Entries Tagged 'generic Universal Camera Cases' ↓

A couple of trends are evident in the category of long-zoom cameras. First, companies are outfitting impossibly small cameras–pocket megazooms–with lenses that provide optical zoom ranges of 10X and up. Second, companies are going even bigger with larger-sized fixed-lens cameras, equipping them with optical-zoom lenses that approach 40X.

The Sony Cyber-shot HX100V ($450 as of September 2, 2011) is among the latter–a long-zoom camera with a larger body that resembles a small DSLR. Its 30X-optical-zoom lens is a few steps behind the 36X-optical-zoom Nikon Coolpix P500 and the 35X-optical-zoom Canon PowerShot SX30 IS in zoom range, but the HX100V offers other benefits that may ultimately make it more appealing than its rivals.

Like competing superzoom cameras, the HX100V offers a combination of manual, semimanual, and automatic exposure controls. the camera distinguishes itself from the pack with a few extras: built-in GPS, 3D snapshot and panorama features, excellent video quality, and a blazingly fast 10 frames-per-second continuous shooting speed. A full user guide is also built into the camera for quick reference, and there’s even a search option for it.

The 16-megapixel Sony Cyber-shot HX100V offers a backside-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor that the company says is designed for low-light operation. the HX100V’s optically stabilized 30X zoom lens reaches as far as the Nikon Coolpix P500’s 810mm on the telephoto end, but not as far as the 840mm Canon PowerShot SX30 IS. at 27mm wide-angle, the HX100V achieves a slightly narrower maximum than the P500’s mega-wide-angle 22.5mm and the SX30 IS’s 24mm.

It isn’t the widest of superzoom cameras, but the HX100V’s 27mm wide-angle lens does a good job of capturing landscapes and group shots. the lens is relatively fast, with a maximum aperture of F2.8 at wide angle, though it slows to F5.6 at telephoto.

It takes a lot to stabilize a 30X lens with a reach of 810mm; and though the camera’s Optical SteadyShot system is effective at wide-range-to-midrange focal lengths, you’ll benefit from using a tripod or monopod when shooting at full telephoto. A tripod becomes all the more important when there’s not enough light to permit use of a super-fast shutter speed. the rule of thumb is that the minimum shutter speed should equal 1/focal length; in this case, that would be at least 1/810th of a second. at 810mm, however, holding the camera steady enough to keep the subject in the frame isn’t easy.

Manual focus is available at the flip of a switch on the lens barrel and through use of the lens focus/zoom ring. once you press the focus button atop the grip, the camera enlarges the image up to 7X, so you can fine-tune the focus more easily. Frankly, autofocus seems to work better (and faster), but tweaking the focus manually in macro mode is a helpful touch. by using the same ring, you can manually operate the zoom in conjunction with autofocus.

With its lens retracted, the HX100V measures 4.6 inches wide, 3.5 inches tall, and 3.6 inches deep, making it a bit smaller than either the Nikon Coolpix P500 or the Canon PowerShot SX30 IS. With its lens fully extended, the camera’s optics don’t protrude much, so the unit is relatively compact for its class; it’s by no means pocketable, however.

At 1 pound, 4 ounces, the camera has enough heft to counterbalance the lens. the grip is raised and grooved, with enough room between it and the lens barrel to provide a solid handhold–particularly for people with large hands. Photographers with small hands may find the grip a little too deep, but it’s nicely contoured for comfort.

Like other superzooms, the HX100V is equipped with both an adjustable LCD and an eye-level EVF (electronic viewfinder). the 3-inch, high-resolution, 921,000-pixel LCD provides a clear view for composing and playback, with a five-step brightness control, and it worked well in our testing under most lighting conditions. the monitor is hinged at the bottom, so you can flip it out and tilt it for overhead and low-angle shots. the EVF is clear, albeit a little dark, and a diopter enables you to adjust the viewfinder to your eyesight. An eye sensor automatically switches between the LCD and the viewfinder, but sometimes it’s faster to switch manually, thereby avoiding a slight delay in the automatic process.

A single media-card slot accommodates both Memory Stick and SD/SDHC/SDXC cards. With newer-model cameras, it’s wise to use cards of above-average capacity and speed, especially to shoot video and/or high-speed bursts.

For the most part, the HX100V’s control layout is standard. the mode dial is packed with 11 shooting options. Buttons include on/off, playback, menu, and direct movie mode. the zoom lever surrounds the shutter button, while a four-way pad provides direct access to the display, flash, self-timer, and single/burst/bracket modes.

Burst speed and bracketing settings require a trip to the menu, however. A dedicated focus button atop the grip offers multipoint, center, and flexible-spot autofocus options. With flexible-spot autofocus, you use the four-way pad keys to position the focus point manually. you activate or disable tracking focus, which works well, via the four-way pad’s center button.

Also of note is a custom button that you can program for direct access to white balance, auto-exposure lock, smile shutter, or the camera’s neutral density filter. A jog dial positioned to the left of the textured thumb rest on the back of the camera lets you scroll through the menus and change several settings directly; you press the dial one or more times to cycle through ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and exposure compensation. the jog dial’s press-and-turn operation can seem a little awkward, at least initially.

All of the other camera settings, including image size, flash level, color mode, and smile shutter, are accessible via the menu. after you press the menu button, a vertical list appears on the left side of the LCD, amounting to a long version of the quick menu found on other cameras–and just as convenient.

Like other full-size megazoom cameras, the HX100V offers a more well-rounded feature set than smaller point-and-shoots do. Photographers who prefer manual exposure modes can shoot in aperture-priority, shutter-speed-priority, or full manual mode. Alternatively, a Program Auto mode does most of the thinking but allows users to set parameters such as ISO, metering, contrast, saturation, and sharpness. An MR (memory recall) option on the mode dial is essentially a custom mode, enabling you to select and access three customized combinations of settings.

Alas, there’s no RAW shooting mode. Fine-tuning adjustments, such as contrast, sharpness, saturation, skin softness, and noise reduction are accessible via the menu system. But you can adjust each of these attributes to one of only three levels: low, standard, and high. in this respect, the HX100V falls short of the Coolpix P500–but minimal control is better than none at all.

No-brainer options include intelligent auto, superior auto (a sort of auto-meets-bracketing mode, which takes multiple shots and combines them for the best image), and 16 scene modes. the “smile shutter” option automatically snaps a photo when your subject smiles, and you can adjust smile-detection sensitivity settings (big, normal, slight smile). it works in practice, though you can’t always depend on the smile-triggered shutter to fire fast enough to capture a grin.

One surprising feature of the Sony Cyber-shot HX100V is its continuous-shooting speed. at full resolution, the camera snaps away at up to 10 frames per second for about 10 shots. it takes several seconds to save the data to the card (which is why I recommend getting a fast card), and focus and exposure are set at the first frame. still, the HX100V’s burst mode is very impressive.

3D features are in the mix, too, as the camera can capture MPO-format still images. Supplementing Sony’s normal Sweep Panorama mode is a special 3D Sweep Panorama that creates wide-angle 3D photos. You’ll need a compatible 3D TV and glasses to see the effect during playback, though. along with the panoramic 3D images, the HX100V uses its fast-burst bracketing capabilities to create 3D shots without your having to pan the camera. A Sweep Multi-Angle mode lets you change your viewing perspective of an image by tilting the camera back and forth during playback.

The HX100V’s video resolution is outstanding, producing 1080p AVCHD video at 60 fps at the camera’s highest-resolution setting. Automatic features in the HX100V’s movie mode include intelligent auto, intelligent scene selection, and face detection; and you can use the zoom lens (while stabilized) in movie mode. the unit records sound in stereo, but the camera’s speaker is mono.

The HX100V’s in-camera GPS features are fairly bare-bones: the camera captures location (and shooting direction via an electronic compass) and records the information into the EXIF data. It’s a handy feature for travelers or anyone who wants to track where images were captured, but you don’t get an in-camera mapping and location database, as you do with the Casio Exilim EX-H20G.

Not surprisingly, the HX100V doesn’t pick up a signal indoors. in fact, I couldn’t acquire a signal standing close to a single-story building. But when I moved about 20 feet away from the building, the camera acquired the GPS signal in less than a minute, which is faster than the signal acquisition times I’ve measured for other GPS-equipped cameras I’ve used.

In PCWorld Labs’ subjective evaluations for image quality, the Sony Cyber-shot HX100V was a solid performer three measures: sharpness (Very Good), lack of distortion (Superior), and color accuracy (Very Good). However, exposure quality exhibited some automated white-balance issues and a bit of underexposure in our test images, and the camera earned a score of just Fair for exposure quality.

In my hands-on tests, the HX100V’s still-image quality was a mixed bag, though pretty good overall. when shooting at lower ISOs, with the lens at wide to midrange focal lengths, many of my test shots came out razor sharp and with better-than-average details. when I pumped up the ISO and/or extended the zoom, the images got softer and lost detail–hardly an unexpected occurrence with this type of camera, but still noteworthy. I wasn’t surprised, either, that purple fringing occasionally appeared along high-contrast edges when zoomed at telephoto. However, the HX100V delivered (mostly) accurate exposures and pleasing colors.

You can view the full-size images used for PCWorld Labs’ subjective evaluations by clicking the thumbnails at left.

Start-up and power down were a little slower than I had expected, but autofocus speed under good light was speedy; the autofocus speed slowed a bit under low light and at full zoom. Tracking focus was fairly responsive and accurate, though the camera occasionally got distracted and went off-course from its intended subject. again, you should use a tripod for long shots: the HX100V’s stabilization system works well, except at the farthest reaches of the zoom.

In PCWorld Labs’ subjective video tests, the HX100V emerged as a very good long-zoom option for people who want to shoot video. Our sample footage looked sharp and smooth in bright light, and the HX100V did a much better job than most cameras we’ve tested in creating a usable low-light video scene. the low-light test clip is certainly dark, but the scene’s details are visible, and the camera doesn’t jack up the ISO automatically to reduce color accuracy. the HX100V earned a video quality score of Very Good, with a better score in our low-light tests than most other cameras we’ve tested this year.

You can view the test clips used for PCWorld Labs’ subjective video tests below. Select “1080p” in each player to view the highest-quality footage.

Battery life is another strong suit: at 410 shots per charge according to CIPA testing, the HX100V qualifies for a battery-life rating of Very Good. Bear in mind, however, that those results came with the camera’s GPS functionality turned off; you can expect the battery’s mileage to drop considerably if you engage the GPS.

The 30X optical-zoom Sony Cyber-shot HX100V offers a good balance of manual and automated features, as well as standout video and 3D capabilities. it doesn’t match the sophistication of the Nikon P500’s feature set, but its special features and GPS give it a unique position among competing long-zoom cameras.

The Origin EON 17-S is unabashedly a desktop replacement laptop. It’s big and bulky, though it weighs a bit less than older, similar systems at a little over 8.5 pounds without the power brick. (Note that the large, 220W power supply weighs about 2.5 pounds all by itself.) on the surface, it’s a generic 17-inch laptop with some additional amenities, such as a discrete Nvidia GTX 460M GPU, a high-performance solid-state drive, and the top-of-the-line Core i7-2920XM quad-core processor from Intel’s 32nm Sandy Bridge CPU series.

Once you get past the generic look, you’ll find a highly capable desktop replacement notebook with a few quirks. For one thing, Origin chose not to implement Nvidia’s Optimus technology, which can automatically switch between the lower-power Intel HD Graphics built into the Sandy Bridge CPU core and the higher-performing discrete GPU. this omission probably accounts for the EON 17-S’s relatively short battery life in PCWorld Labs testing–just 2 hours, 18 minutes.

On the other hand, the EON 17-S delivered the highest WorldBench 6 score we’ve yet seen from a laptop, a stunning mark of 197. the 2.5GHz Core i7-2920XM can run as high as 3.5GHz in Turbo Boost mode. the laptop’s bulky chassis may detract from the overall aesthetic, but it also provides for greater airflow, allowing the Intel CPU to maintain those higher Turbo Boost frequencies. Having 16GB of fast DDR3 memory doesn’t hurt.

The downside to the discrete GPU and high-performance CPU is noise. the fan noise emanating from the EON 17-S is pretty loud–not the loudest I’ve heard, but loud enough to be distracting, even when the laptop is idle.

Gaming performance is more limited, probably due to the GTX 460M GPU. Origin does offer higher-end GPUs as an option, but the system is already priced north of $3400 (as of August 5, 2011), so bear that in mind. you will see fairly good frame rates at the full 1080p resolution if you dial the graphics-detail settings to one notch below maximum, leave antialiasing off, and keep shadow quality to medium in the more strenuous games.

Origin includes plenty of ports, including five USB ports. Three–of which two are USB 3.0 capable–are on the left side. one combo eSATA/USB 2.0 connector is on the rear, and one USB 2.0 port sits on the right side. also on the left side are a FireWire four-pin connector and an SD Card slot. the right side houses the Blu-ray drive plus three audio jacks, which can be configured as combo jacks. the laptop handles digital video output through HDMI and DVI connectors on the rear; it lacks a VGA connector, but that won’t be missed.

One of the more interesting amenities is Bigfoot Networks’ Killer wireless 802.11n network card. the Killer’s claim to fame is that it offers lower latencies and higher throughput than standard network controllers do. my experience is that the Killer works as advertised–but it mostly doesn’t matter, since you won’t notice the difference. you do get a lot of granular control over your machine’s 802.11n Wi-Fi capabilities, if that’s something you crave. the EON 17-S includes gigabit ethernet, but lacks both Bluetooth and 3G/4G wireless networking.

Audio quality through the built-in speakers is quite good, after you enable the THX TruSurround software optimization tool. Beyond activating TruSurround and making sure it’s running, you don’t need to do anything else. Music and movies sound richer and more full-bodied than they do when the speakers are running in stand-alone mode. Even so, the sound system suffers from a lack of bass, so you’ll want good headphones if you crave more robust audio.

Video playback–both high-definition Blu-ray material and DVD upscaling–looks a little on the noisy side. It’s not too distracting, but you’ll see it if you’re looking for it, especially when comparing the results to those of similar systems running Intel HD Graphics or an AMD discrete GPU. Motion smearing is evident, but also not distracting.

A fast, 256GB Crucial SSD is the primary boot drive; a 750GB, 7200-rpm Seagate drive is included for secondary storage. Origin also throws in a Blu-ray read-only combo drive, and you can get a Blu-ray burner as an extra-cost option. the EON 17-S ships with PowerDVD 11 for full Blu-ray 3D support. Origin didn’t configure user folders to live on the secondary drive, however, so you’ll need to do that heavy lifting yourself.

The keyboard has a slightly mushy feel, and pressing down keys seems to require some force. the keyboard spacing and layout are both excellent, though. the touchpad isn’t overly sensitive, so your hovering palm won’t send the pointer shooting across the screen. on the other hand, while the touchpad supports multitouch gestures, its gesture recognition wasn’t particularly reliable.

Overall, the Origin EON 17-S offers superb performance in general-purpose and media-authoring environments, and better-than-average performance in most games. It’s pricey, though, at around $3400 as tested. For that amount of money, you get a system with lots of RAM, fast storage, and an impressive CPU. all of that makes up somewhat for the laptop’s relatively undistinguished appearance and excess bulk.

News photographers occasionally are sent out to shoot what we call a “weather feature.” It’s an assignment for visual filler that most photographers dread — except in the summertime, when we can use it as an excuse go to the Cascade Lakes. Shooting a weather feature is not really “work” so much as going to the lakes with a camera and a notepad.

My favorite three lakes when I go hunting for weather features — in order of likelihood of finding a good picture — areTodd Lake, Lava Lake and Hosmer Lake.

If you can only make it to one lake to take pictures, get to Todd Lake. in the early summer it’s still frozen, and you can find all sorts of ice, water and views to photograph. Just after the snow melts, you can find wildflowers blooming. For about two weeks in late July and early August, you can go for a quick swim and put people in the water for pictures. in the fall, the snow arrives and coats the trees, offering up some beautiful photography. Wintertime at Todd Lake is stunning. Throw on some cross-country skis and ski around the lake perimeter on a bluebird day. if you snowshoe or ski around the back side, Mount Bachelor is framed perfectly with the lake in the foreground.

I’m a big believer in what’s called participatory photography. never stand on the sidelines when you can get in the middle of the action. when you visit one of the lakes, get in and enjoy yourself! Your pictures will be better because you’ll be closer to the subject and showing what it feels like to be there instead of taking a static photo of a person or scenery.

I recommend buying a simple waterproof bag made by DiCAPac (dicapac.com/new_eng/02_products/sub03.html) for less than $100. It’ll let you get pictures in the lakes you would normally miss.

Now’s a good time to have fun taking pictures of the Cascade Lakes. Just don’t forget your mosquito repellent!

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Uganda News.NetThursday 20th January, 2011 (Source: All Africa)

WITH a couple of weeks to the general elections, the campaign for Free and Fair elections is gaining momentum. Ugandan photographer Andy Kristian (Agaba), based in the US has teamed up with USAID to have a photography exhibition about the upcoming elections at the National Theatre in Kampala. the exhibition explores three themes: citizens talking to other citizens about issues pertaining to elections; peaceful, non-violent elections and collective participation in the elections. … Read the full story at All Africa 

Nikon D5100 16.2MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera brings the high quality 16.2 megapixel sensor, great low-light performance, and full HD video capability with all the frame rate options from the popular pro-sumer D7000 to the enthusiast level model – and then includes a fully adjustable side-mounted rotating screen to boot. The Nikon D5100 16.2MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera should prove to be an excellent option for new dSLR users plus those experienced enthusiasts wishing to upgrade their D50, D60, or even their D3000 to gain additional megapixels, shooting and processing speed, video, and an improved rear LCD screen. The variety of features and functions offered on the various Nikon dSLR cameras might make it difficult to choose between them, but there are some important differences.

The new Nikon D5100 16.2MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera sits just above the D3100, a bit below the aging D90, and several steps below the fully-featured and highly customizable Nikon D7000. The D5100 boasts a 16 megapixel image sensor (just like the D7000), shoots 4 frames per second in continuous mode, has HD video capability at 24, 25, and 30 fps, and includes the fully rotating rear LCD screen improved in flexibility from the screen of the D5000.

Generally as the cameras increase in price and capability from the entry level model to the enthusiast pro-sumer model they gain more sophisticated autofocus and exposure metering systems, shoot faster (more frames per second) in continuous shooting mode, have more controls and buttons for changing settings on the camera body, and offer more menu and custom function options.

Sensor and Image Quality: The sensors of the Nikon D5100 16.2MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera and D7000 are greatly improved over the older D90 in a couple of ways. The D5100 and D7000 have 16.2 megapixel sensors, where the D90 has 12.3 megapixels. The relatively new D3100 has a 14.2 MP sensor. This increase in resolution allows for more intrusive editing of the files in Photoshop, the ability to crop a picture and still obtain an image with high enough resolution for printing or display, and allows for larger prints. in addition, the improved sensor results in better performance at high ISO settings and in low light, better dynamic range, tonal range, and color sensitivity. have a look at the dxomark website to compare the sensors.

Exposure Metering: Nikon D5100 16.2MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera, while sharing a similar sensor to the D7000, does not have the same advanced metering system. It shares the less sophisticated 420 pixel RGB metering sensor of the D3100 and offers matrix metering, non-adjustable center-weighted, and spot metering modes. This system may be more than sufficient for many users, especially those not intending to adjust their exposure settings and dig into their menus in reaction to complex lighting situations. But if your shooting demands require more precise exposure metering and control over the size of the areas being metered, you need to consider the D7000 or D90. The 2016 pixel RGB metering sensor of the D7000 is also improved compared to the D90, and will result in more accurate metering performance of straightforward and complex lighting scenes and situations. Both these cameras offer matrix metering, center-weighted, and spot metering modes. With center-weighted metering on the D90, you can select the size of the center-weighted area to be a 6, 8, or 10mm center circle, and the D7000 adds a 13mm circle option.

Autofocus: The autofocus systems of the D3100, D5100, and D90 all have 11 autofocus (AF) points with the center one being a more accurate cross-type. these AF systems may be more than sufficient for most users, and they can successfully track moving objects in the frame such as athletes, performers, or animals. However, if you specialize in sports, action, wildlife, or bird photography, you are going to want to consider the much more sophisticated, accurate, and customizable AF system of the D7000. The D7000 boasts a significantly improved AF system of 39 AF points with 9 of them being cross type. The AF system of the D7000 allows for you to use these points in various ways including automatic AF point selection, single point AF, and dynamic area AF using your choice of 9 points, 21 points, all points, or all points with 3D-tracking. It is important to note that the Nikon D5100 16.2MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera and D3100 do not have an autofocusing motor built into the body so you have to be sure to purchase lenses with built-in AF motors. For example, the Nikon “Nifty 50″ 50mm f/1.8 will not autofocus with these cameras. The D7000 and D90 have the built-in motor.

Body, Construction and Size/ Weight: The Nikon D5100 16.2MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera is just slightly larger and a tiny bit heavier than the D3100, both weighing just over one pound. Both have plastic bodies and more limited buttons and controls that the higher end models. many users should find its size and weight great for using and carrying around, though some prefer the ergonomics of a larger body. The D90 and D7000 appear very similar at first glance, but the plastic body of the D90 has been upgraded to the partially magnesium alloy body (top and rear) of the D7000. This adds slightly to the weight: 1.5 lbs for the D90 vs. 1.7 lbs for the D7000. The D7000 also has weather sealing at the memory card and battery doors, which the D5100 and D3100 do not. The higher end D7000 and D90 include not only the 3″ rear LCD screen but also a top LCD panel for viewing and changing your settings. This is essential for photographers who are constantly changing their settings to deal with various shooting situations. For most users, including even those using the camera daily or in travel situations, the non-magnesium construction of the D5100 should be far more than good enough, strong enough, and durable enough.

ISO: As mentioned in the Sensor and Image Quality section above, the high ISO performance of the D7000 is greatly improved over the D90. The tests at dxomark.com tell this story, along with the fact that the native ISO range of the D7000 is 100-6400 expandable up to 25,600. The D5100 shares these specifications, and should offer similar results. The D3100 has a native ISO range of 100-3200 expandable to 12800, and the range of the D90 is 200-3200. This means that with the D7000 and Nikon D5100 16.2MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera you can use higher ISO settings when required, such as in low light situations, and not have as much difficulty with digital noise, particularly in the shadow areas of images.

Controls: As with construction, the buttons and controls vary with these cameras. The D3100 and D5100 offer more limited, basic controls on the exterior of the camera. However you can use the rear LCD screen to quickly change many settings, or else go into the menus. The D7000 offers an extensive array of controls on the camera body, allowing one to quickly change an large number of settings as they work, including focus mode and focus area settings, shooting mode, and exposure mode. The controls of the D7000 are similar to the D90 with some changes including the addition of the shooting mode ring under the mode dial (to change from single shot to high speed continuous to self timer, etc.), and the live-view switch with movie record button inside it. The D7000 also offers 2 customizable user settings (U1, U2) on the mode dial, and you can assign functions of your choice to buttons such as the Fn Button.

I am selling my Nikon N2000 film camera. it includes the camera, a 550 fd n vivitar flash, a 75 mm lense, all instruction manuals, and the carrying case

everything is in extremely good condition.

I am wondering what to price it at. I looked online and I couldnt really find a solid price.

$200/$300 usually, but at a pawn shop it can get to as low as $35