Canon Powershot G11 – Review – 35

Ashley Kramer falls in love with Canon’s latest PowerShot

The G11 is the latest in a long run of G series PowerShot cameras, a line that has always been pitched at more advanced photographers. They’ve never been the most compact of devices and aren’t loaded with extraneous bells and whistles, instead prioritising handling, durability and performance. The G10 (released in early 2009) in particular is a fabulous camera – Phil Hanson gave it a great review in issue 28 of D-Photo; in fact he recommended it so highly that I went out and bought one.

My G10 has been a joy to own and use but, like most compacts, its high ISO performance is feeble – keep it below 400 or, even better, 200 and the images are superb, almost dSLR quality in many ways, but above that it’s noise city. Which is where the G11 comes in. Canon has ignored the megapixel arms race and taken the unprecedented step of dramatically reducing the resolution of the G11’s sensor from 14.7MP to a seemingly meagre 10. It has proved to be a very good idea because the new sensor is a revelation.

The G11 is a far better low-light performer than the G10 or any other compact camera I’ve tried – it’s actually still very good at ISO 800 (but save 1600 or 3200 for emergencies). This is no small achievement, but what’s truly impressive is that the camera manages this while retaining most of the higher resolution sensor’s ability to capture fine detail and all of its ability to produce crisp, vivid and highly saturated images.

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Casio Exilim G EX-G1 – Review – 35

Ashley Kramer goes extreme photographing with Casio’s latest

The EX-G1 is Casio’s first foray into action cameras and, unlike other Exilim compacts, the EX-G1 carries a red ‘G’ designation, which will be familiar to anyone who’s worn one of the company’s ultra-tough G-Shock watches.

With its bold styling, rugged case and screw-on protectors, there’s a clear G-Shock bloodline in its gene pool; and like the watches, it’s built tough: shock resistant to more than two metres, water resistant to three metres, and dust and freeze resistant to boot.

Even with its sturdy build, the EX-G1 is a compact among compacts, being barely larger than a mobile phone, so it easily vanishes into almost any pocket, which suits a camera that will be dragged all over (and under) the great outdoors.

The handling is straightforward bar a few initial hurdles. Opening the fiddly battery door provoked growls of frustration in the D-Photo offices; it’s really a task for long fingernails or a pointy object.

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Nikon Coolpix S70 – Review – 35

Ashley Kramer gets touchy-feely with the new Coolpix

Here we have a compact camera with just one control button on it, which is a huge departure from the button, lever and dial-laden norm. But this isn’t the world’s simplest camera. Nikon’s Coolpix S70 is actually a fully featured compact that uses a big, bright 3.5-inch organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touchscreen to provide camera control.

There isn’t even an on/off switch; that’s done by sliding the lens cover up and down, so the little Nikon has a very plain, unadorned appearance that some will consider boring and others minimalist or even elegant. At any rate, it’s small, slim and smooth, so it fits into the tiniest of cases, purses or pockets.

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Ricoh GXR – Review – 35

Ashley Kramer trials a unique camera system from Ricoh

In recent years camera manufacturers have been quietly creating an entirely new type of interchangeable-lens digital camera. Because there’s no mirror mechanism they’re not single lens reflexes, so some wags have called them EVIL cameras (electronic viewfinder interchangeable lens), others see them as hybrids. Call them what you like, they’re here to stay because of the small form factors and the excellent image quality that goes along with large dSLR-style sensors and multiple lenses.

Ricoh has chosen to take a dramatically different path with its hybrid camera; not only are the lenses interchangeable but, bizarrely, the sensors are too.

The GXR system consists of a body and separate camera units. Each camera unit contains a lens, a sensor, a low pass filter and an image processor, all optimised for that specific lens. The logic is that instead of using one sensor for every possible photographic situation, you can use a sensor custom matched to the lens and application, so a macro lens would have a different sensor than a lens aimed at low-light photography.

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Panasonic Lumix GF1 – Review – 34

Sean Aiken gets to grips with Panasonic’s new Micro Four Thirds offering

Those up to speed with Micro Four Thirds’ swift revolution will know that the Lumix GF1 is Panasonic’s response to the Olympus E-P1 (see D-Photo issue 32). It seems that waiting a few short months has made all the difference, with the new kid on the block offering more options than just retro chic.

Size matters

The review GF1 was a final production model equipped with the ‘pancake’ 20mm f1.7 (equivalent to 40mm on a full frame system), exceeding the pancake from Olympus (17mm). I would rather a narrower angle of view with shallow depth of field, and with the Panasonic coming in with a maximum aperture of f1.7, you get real portraits with great out-of-focus backgrounds.

Although a larger zoom lens is available the real fun starts when using this slimline (25.5mm!) fast lens. With its total size not much larger than the Panasonic Lumix LX3 or Canon Powershot G10, this is the ideal everyday camera for the discerning photographer wanting shallower depth of field and the greater image quality made possible by the larger sensor.

Size is as important as fun

I picked up the GF1 just before heading to Australia for a wedding, so it seemed the perfect little camera to take. The first thing to notice was how much fun the GF1 was to use. The excellent screen allowed me to shoot with it very close to my face, pseudo viewfinder stance, and with its snappy autofocus and intelligent auto (of which more later) it was ideal for using on the streets of downtown Brisbane.

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Canon Pixma PRO9000 Mark II – Review – 34

Canon’s new Pixma is a prince of prints, says Gary Pearce

If you’re an avid photographer, chances are you’ll have a decent photo printer, and there are some excellent A4 devices available.

That’s fine if you want to limit yourself to that size, but if you’re like me you’ll soon be yearning for a much larger print size to show off your creative handiwork.

Of course, there are plenty of photo labs to choose from, but can you really trust their colour management, printer maintenance and general nous when it comes to printing those special pictures?

It’s perhaps best, then, to invest in your own large-format printer, and the A3+ bracket is where it all begins.

Canon has made a stir in recent times with its imagePROGRAF range of production/photo large-format printers, but luckily for me (or unluckily – take your pick) I took home the latest prosumer Pixma Pro9000 Mark II for an extended trial period.

Because of its size the Pro9000 Mark II commands a decent amount of bench-top real estate, though its bulky form is attractively styled. The FINE print head-equipped machine has a resolution of 4800 x 2400 and will eject two-picolitre droplets of ink, while the Chromalife eight-colour dye-based ink set has the promise of a 100-year life span. Dye inks aren’t as stable in terms of archivability as pigment-based inks, so this is a fairly bold claim on Canon’s behalf. I’d want to hang new photographs on my walls well before the 100 years was up.

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Pentax K-X – Review – 34

Harley Ogier on Pentax’s baby dSLR

The K-x is Pentax’s latest entry-level dSLR, aimed at recruiting digital compact camera users into the dSLR big league.

While it’s modestly sized in dSLR terms, the K-x isn’t a massive step up in size or weight from a high-performance point-and-shoot. The construction is solid although clearly plastic, with a comfortable rubberised handgrip and plenty of finger-space.

The controls are intuitive and the camera should be immediately usable by anyone familiar with digital compacts. Plenty of automatic shooting modes are provided – if anything, with 14 options the mode dial is a little crowded. I found this to be the camera’s most intimidating feature: surely some of those modes could have been hidden under a single option?

The main automatic shooting mode performs well in a variety of conditions – better than the automatic modes of many competitors that produce only passable results. If you’re new to dSLRs, you could spend weeks or months shooting in the auto mode before touching the manual controls, and still end up with images far better than a digital compact could produce.

As any entry-level dSLR should, the K-x also incorporates Live View. The feature is implemented quite well, but suffers from the common limitation of extremely slow autofocus. This has been an issue for most dSLRs since Live View was first introduced, but is beginning to be countered by a number of novel methods. The K-x seems almost a step backward in that regard: it’s the entry-level cameras that really need the best Live View implementations to tempt screen-addled digital compact users into the dSLR format.

Viewfinder adepts will also be slightly disappointed. Instead of the solid pentaprism used in high-end dSLRs, the K-x uses a cheaper pentamirror-based viewfinder. This is a simple arrangement of three mirrors, and it delivers a dimmer and lower quality image to the viewfinder than a pentaprism would. The dimness over higher end models and pentaprism-equipped competitors is notable, as is a very slight graininess to the viewfinder image.

Despite its limitations, the K-x produces excellent quality images. Image noise is virtually nil, even in low-light conditions. Images are sharp with gorgeously crisp colour, and the dynamic range is wide. You can even opt to shoot in a High Dynamic Range mode, which combines the results of three successive shots at different exposures to produce a single image. Personally, I found this option useless without a tripod (due to camera-shake between the three shots) but with a tripod the results are great.

The K-x rather unusually requires standard AA batteries. This is great if you’re travelling: rechargeable AA batteries are much cheaper than the average dSLR battery, and a far wider range of travel chargers is available – mains, vehicle, USB and even solar chargers may be easily sourced. You can always pick up a set of disposable AA batteries in a pinch, which just isn’t an option for most dSLR users.

Overall, the Pentax K-x is a great entry-level dSLR limited only in its viewfinder and Live View implementations. A good option if image quality is the top item on your checklist.

Pentax  K-X dSLR – Specifcations

Manufacturer: Pentax
Model: K-x
RRP: $1399
Effective Pixels: 12.4 million
Image Sensor: 23.6 x 15.8mm CMOS (crop format)
Viewfinder: Pentamirror-based, ~96% frame coverage
LCD Monitor: 2.7-inch, 230,000 dot TFT LCD
Shutter: 1/6,000 to 30 seconds, bulb
ISO: 200-6400 in steps of 1/3, 1/2 or 1 EV (also supports ISO100 to ISO12,800 equivalent)
Exposure Metering: Multi-segment, centre-weighted, spot
Media: SD/SDHC
File Format: RAW, JPEG, AVI
Interface: USB 2.0, composite video out
Batteries: 4 AA, approx 1900 images
Dimensions: 122 x 91 x 69mm
Weight: 516g (without battery or memory card)

PROS

• Excellent image quality
• Uses standard AA batteries

CONS

• Slow Live View autofocus
• Dim pentamirror viewfinder

Design                      16
Performance             16
Features                   17
Image Quality           19
Value for money       14

TOTAL 82/100

This article is from D-Photo 34. Click here to check it out.