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All posts tagged "dilc"


Thursday, May 5, 2011

Digital Camera Resource Page Reviews the Fujifilm Finepix X100

Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 06:30 PM

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/f...pix_x100-review

"In a world of me-too compact cameras, Fuji has come up with something decidedly different. Their long-awaited FinePix X100 is a rangefinder-style, fixed lens camera with an APS-C sensor and unique hybrid viewfinder. They're not the first manufacturer to do the fixed lens / big sensor combo (Sigma's been at it for several years), but the FinePix X100 is a lot more professional in terms of design, features, and performance."

DCResource has got their Fujifilm X100 review out, the conclusion is not too far from my own impressions on the camera (read my hands-on for a detailed breakdown on the issues I had with the user interface). The photo quality is more impressive than I expected. I wonder if Nikon's D300 follow-up is going to be as good? Read the review to find out more, and check out the high ISO samples: They are very good for a camera using an APS-C sensor!


Friday, March 11, 2011

Fujifilm Finepix X100 Hands-on

Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 09:00 AM

Introduction

The Fujifilm Finepix X100 has generated a lot of hype and interest ever since it was first announced at Photokina 2010. In case you missed the hype, the X100 is a retro-styled camera featuring direct controls via knobs for aperture, shutter and exposure compensation. Its main claim to fame is its hybrid viewfinder: Based on a standard rangefinder, which in simplest terms has two viewfinders to focus, one viewfinder is replaced with an EVF which can either be used on its own, or project an overlay over the remaining optical viewfinder. Other highlights include a fine Fujinon 23mm f/2 lens (equivalent to 35mm), and Fuji's latest 12 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor. Recently the camera just went on sale in Singapore, and it was launched at the IT Show 2011. I was there, and managed to spend some time with it. What do I think? Read on!

Read more...


Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Fujifilm Formally Announces Finepix X100

Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 03:30 PM

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1102/1...x100updated.asp

So here it is. Formal announcement and all. When? March 2011. How much? US$1,200 or ­€1,000. Don't give me that look, it's way cheaper than any Leica, and likely to be better as well.

In case you forget what this was, we have covered the camera before.


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

More Updates on the Fujifilm Finepix X100; Anyone Gone Mad Yet?

Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 03:00 PM

http://photorumors.com/2011/01/25/f...-photo-samples/

So yea, is anyone still up for more X100 updates? Photorumors has a nice compilation, including samples, and a preview from DPReview. Go check it out if you are interested in this camera. Me, I personally would prefer a different lens...


Thursday, November 4, 2010

Panasonic's GF2 in High Res Photos

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 12:46 PM

http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-...000000000005702

Interested in the new Panasonic GF2? Want to see what it looks like up close? Click the image above, or below, to see high-resolution images of what this new camera looks like. Will I be getting a GF2 to replace my GF1? I'm not sure - at first glance, the answer is no - it offers some improvements over the GF1, namely the 1080p video, but while a 19% reduction in body size is nothing to complain about, it's not enough reason by itself to buy the product if you're already a GF1 owner. I'm quite curious to see what Nikon does in this space in 2011, so I think I'll hold on to my money for now and see what hits the market next year...though I have to admit, the red GF2 made my geeky heart go flutter-flutter. Nice-looking camera!


Thursday, September 23, 2010

Fujifilm Finepix X100 Hands On

Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 09:30 AM

http://www.photographyblog.com/news...hands-on_photos

PhotographyBLOG has scored some photos of the X100 mockup at Photokina to give you an idea of the size. It's certainly not the smallest camera, and I had some people telling me they were hoping for something in the region of the Panasonic LX cameras. As expected, it's not tiny. Still, it's small enough, and I'm looking forward to see how that hybrid viewfinder's implementation is.


Monday, September 20, 2010

Fujifilm Announces Development of Finepix X100; Makes Many Photographers Excited.

Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 05:38 AM

http://theonlinephotographer.typepa...tiful-fuji.html

"This is certainly the most enjoyable camera news I've gotten in a long while. Fujifilm has made a "development announcement" at Photokina for a camera to be called the X100: a high-quality, fixed-lens, 12-MP, viewfinder-window compact digital camera with an APS-C sensor. The lens is a 23mm ƒ/2 Fujinon...exactly equivalent, in 35mm terms, to a 35mm ƒ/2."

Fujifilm has made a development announcement (ie the product is not ready but we went you to know it exists and is coming) on the Finepix X100, one of the more interesting announcements at this year's Photokina. It is a camera with styling and operations like the old rangefinders, but is not quite a rangefinder; there is no rangefinder mechanism in this camera. Instead, the prism transmits an image from a LCD, which makes this a hybrid optical electronic viewfinder system. It solves the main issue I have with rangefinders (the parallex errors), since you can switch to a purely electronic view to see the image as it is on the sensor, and keeps the main advantage of rangefinders (the very bright view). In optical viewfinder mode, the LCD overlays information like camera settings. It's a pretty neat system! Other highlights include a 12 megapixel APS-C EXR sensor, which is the first large Fujifilm sensor since the Fuji S5pro from four years ago, a 35mm f/2 equivalent lens (unfortunately, not my favourite focal length), full manual controls via dedicated dials, a built-in 3 stop ND filter, and a 2.8" HVGA screen. And yes, it autofocuses. No word on price yet, but don't expect it to be cheap, given the main competition is a Leica X1. The Online Photographer has a nice writeup on the camera as well as the hybrid mechanism, so hit the link to find out more!


Saturday, September 18, 2010

What is Nikon "Q"?

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Talk" @ 12:00 PM

http://nikonrumors.com/2010/09/17/w...n-q-part-2.aspx

The rumours are starting to mount: it's looking like Nikon is going to be announcing something big at Photokina, but the speculation is it will be simply an announcement - no product yet. So what is it? Well, Nikon Rumors is guessing that it's going to be Nikon's mirrorless EVIL camera - and given that the "F" mount lenses are what Nikon DSLRs use, calling the new system's lens mount the "Q" makes a certain amount of sense. But in looking at the image above, I'm struck by how much the grip seems to stick out - that's not something you tend to see on EVIL/DILC cameras. On the other hand, it might be part of Nikon's design to make them easier to hold - and if the rest of the camera is quite thin, it might work out OK.

I'm honestly quite excited about whatever Nikon has cooking with their mirrorless camera; I'm an unabashed fan of Nikon and the image quality of their DSLRs, and if I could get near-DSLR image quality in a camera I could fit in my jacket pocket, well, sign me up!


Thursday, August 5, 2010

Canon EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens) Mockups by Someone With Plenty of Free Time

Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 11:30 AM

http://www.digitalphotographywriter...digital_28.html

"Canon EVIL cameras (also NIkon's) are in every photography rumors websites. Should Canon release a new line of EVIL cameras, who knows. But I have decided to become a concept design artist for one day, in order to try my photo editing software skills, and see what I can come up with."

Before I go on, here's my warning:

THESE ARE ONLY MOCKUPS. TAKING THEM SERIOUSLY AS CANON'S LATEST WILL GET YOU MOCKED.

So, with Photokina drawing closer, the deluge of rumours and what-not are going to start (or have already started). Canon and Nikon EVIL cameras are pretty hot in the rumour mill, but someone has decided to make some mockups on how it might look like. It's been a week or so since the initial design has gone up, and there're now five designs at this time of writing. Of course, Canon has said a few times they want to focus on making smaller DSLRs...


Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Digital Camera Resource Page Reviews the Samsung NX10

Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 08:00 PM

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/s...ung/nx10-review

"The NX10 ($699) marks Samsung's bold entry into the increasingly competitive interchangeable lens camera market. It's designed to go head-to-head with the likes of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2 and, to a lesser extent, the more compact (and viewfinder-less) Olympus E-PL1 and Sony NEX-5 cameras. Samsung never really got any traction selling regular digital SLRs, so now they're trying their hand at an ILC. Based on my experiences with the NX10, I think Samsung has a good chance of success in this space."

Samsung's entry to the fast-growing EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens) market is based on an APS-C sensor, which about 70% larger in area compared to the Four Thirds sensors. Long-time digital camera reviewer Jeff Keller at DCRP takes a look at the NX10, and while he was quite favourable about many aspects of the camera, he does conclude that its higher ISOs are not as good as the Micro Four Thirds cameras. It's a good reminder to everyone that sensor size is not everything. It needs to be backed up by the accompanying electronics package and the firmware to properly process the images. Also it's a reminder that such expertise in producing quality images needs to be earned; Nikon and Canon both spent years getting to where they are today.


Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Sony NEX-3 Preview on dpreview.com

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 11:19 AM

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/sonynex3/

"Sony released some information - and a handful of mockups - about its interchangeable lens compact plans at the Photo Marketing Association tradeshow in Los Angeles earlier this year, and now, three months later, the finished products have been announced. The Alpha NEX-3 and NEX-5 don't look a whole lot like the (very rough) samples we saw in LA, but the baseline features are more or less what we expected. Both cameras feature new APS-C format sensors, with a video recording option (720p and 1080p respectively) and a brand new lensmount - the all-electronic Sony E bayonet. Somewhat confusingly, the NEX-3 and NEX-5 are Alpha-series cameras, but if you want to attach an Alpha (or Minolta) mount lens, you'll have to use an adapter."

And here we have Sony's entry into the DILC (Digital Interchangeable Lens Camera), or EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens) category. This category - with the charge initially led by Olympus and Panasonic - is really starting to gain momentum. Until Canon and Nikon enter it though, it will lack a certain amount of legitimacy in the eyes of some, but there have been rumours about a Nikon EVIL camera for a while now, so I expect to see something soon from them. This Sony camera looks pretty good, though I wonder how easy it is to hold - it's so vertically short that it looks somewhat awkward...a very visually striking design though. Thoughts?


Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The Most Fun I've Ever Had With a Digital Camera: The Panasonic Lumix GF1

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 07:00 AM

This is my review video of the Panasonic LUMIX GF1 [affiliate], easily the most unique camera I've ever had the opportunity to look at. It's similar to a DSLR in that you can change lenses, but the micro four-thirds system doesn't use a pentaprism or mirror, so it's not a DSLR. Panasonic calls it a DILC: Digital Interchangeable Lens Camera. I don't see "DILC" taking off as a term, but this camera is hot stuff. And I'll state right up front that I'm an unabashed fan of the Panasonic GF1. As I explain in the video, there's something magical about getting DSLR-like performance and image quality from a camera that's not much bigger than a point and shoot camera. Panasonic is on to something really special with the GF1, and I'm glad that I purchased this camera - I've used it to capture some really special memories already, and that's what I want from every camera I buy. Read more...


Thursday, March 11, 2010

Panasonic Gets Official with the G10 and G2

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 04:00 AM

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/PanasonicDMCG2/

"Panasonic has not sat by and let others take up its mantle, though. It has introduced two models to take up where the G1 left off - the simplified G10 and the upgraded G2. Both will go into battle equipped with a new, simplified 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 kit lens and even the G10, which loses the G1's hi-res viewfinder and articulated screen comes tooled-up with 720p HD video in the simple but space-hungry Motion JPEG format. Both models offer Panasonic's new Intelligent Resolution technology that attempts to smooth or sharpen different parts on the image in a context-sensitive way to optimize image quality."

Well, here it is, the official specs and details on the Panasonic G10 and G2. One of the new features on the G2 is a touch screen. Am I the only one who remains extremely dubious about the usefulness of a touch screen on a camera? A friend has a point and shoot camera with a touch screen, and using it seemed much slower than navigating through a menu. I'm sure there are some interesting things a touch screen interface can bring to the table, but I'm more than a little skeptical...what do you think of touch screens?


Saturday, March 6, 2010

Panasonic G2 and G10 Specs Are Leaked

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 04:00 PM

http://photorumors.com/2010/03/04/p...-specs-are-out/

I'm a big fan of my Panasonic GF1 (which reminds me, I really need to shoot that review video), but I know very little about the other DILC cameras in Panasonic's line-up, namely the G1, GH1, and L10. Panasonic is updating the G1 to a G2, and introducing a G10...which is maybe an upgrade to the L10? I frankly find Panasonic's model numbering system baffling, and feel like they're trying to juggling too many models at once. At any rate, Photorumors has the specs on the G2 and G10, so take a peek and see what you think. Without doing a line by line comparison of specs, I'm not sure how they differ from each other actually...


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