News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
In the top end, pro level dSLRs, it used to be a choice of Nikon or Canon. Or, used to be. Sony now defiantly claims to be a third option by launching this impressive new camera that comes out with all guns blazing.
Barrie Smith | Jan 12, 2009
Pass the $2000 and your options in dSLRs improve dramatically. Canon’s EOS 50D is an excellent example. Described as an ‘enthusiast camera’, the 50D could easily stand in as a pro’s backup to the company’s flagship — and the one we all hunger for! — EOS 5D.
Barrie Smith | Nov 25, 2008
It’s a challenging world when you set out to review a newish image editing application and you suddenly you find there are two with the same name: Iris and Iris. No, wait, there’s dozens of ‘em! Iris for accounting, astronomy, flight simulation and so on. The one in question is an image application by Perth-based Nolobe that promises to free you from the tyranny of confusing image-editing interfaces forever..
Barrie Smith | Aug 6, 2008
The Olympus SP-570UZ is a dead match for the Nikon P80 to be reviewed in the 08.2008 issue of Australian Macworld. Both share — or nearly share! — some remarkable specs, not least of which is the Olympus’ lengthy zoom range, a 20x optical zoom. Yes, I know the Nikon has an 18x zoom, but you get the message. As a dSLR in appearance but with a fixed lens, the zoom range is phenomenal and, put up against a 35mm SLR, compares to a focal length stretch of 26 to 520mm.
Barrie Smith | Jul 12, 2008
Think thoroughbred horses: the trick is to maintain and improve the bloodline. It’s proving to be a similar story in digicams. Take Canon’s IXUS series. IXUS was one of the earliest lines of camera to offer a small, stylish body shape, along with easy to access controls and above average specs. Looks good: works great. The IXUS 80 IS sits right up there: the Canon zoom has 3x optical power; the CCD has 8.0 megapixels so the maximum 3264x2448 pixel image will make a final print size of 37x28 cm at 225 dpi. The IXUS will also take movies at an SD aspect ratio of 4:3 and 640x480 pixels at 30 fps — but no wide screen! However, it can shoot a series of images in time lapse mode so you can capture a run of 640x480 pixel shots at intervals of one or two seconds over two hours.
Barrie Smith | Jun 11, 2008
Canon’s PowerShot “G” line sits squarely on the boundary between the top end of compact digital cameras and low-end digital SLRs, sharing some of the best features of both forms. Six years ago a camera as functional as the G9 cost a touch under $2000 and required you to carry around separate lenses. At a 2008 ticket price less than half that, the G9 represents pretty solid value for money — not to mention its all-in-one convenience. For the money you get a sturdy, semi-pro camera, with 12.1 megapixel capture, imaged by a triple mode, optically stabilised 6x optical zoom and viewed on a 7.6 cm LCD screen — plus an optical finder. As a mark of its lineage you can shoot in RAW format as well as write a simultaneous JPEG image to memory. The maximum image size of 4000x3000 pixels can lead to a high quality 34x25 cm print. Movies can be recorded in 640x480 pixel size at 30 fps — but not in 16:9 widescreen format or resolution.
Barrie Smith | Mar 29, 2008
When Panasonic launched its first DSLR it was priced at nearly $4000. Reason has now entered the picture as the follow-up model hits the shelves at a little more than half that figure. And a fascinating camera the L10 is too. Using the 4/3 system the camera can accept lenses made by Leica, Olympus and Sigma. The image sensor is approximately 4/3 of an inch in the diagonal with an actual imaging area of 17.3x13mm. The big bonus when you buy the L10 camera/lens kit is you get a Japanese-made, Leica-designed Vario-Elmar f3.8-5.6/14-50 mm, 3.6x zoom as your first lens. With Panasonic DSLRs each lens must be optically stabilised, differing from Olympus and Sony who rely on an internal body system to handle the image steadying.
Barrie Smith | Feb 12, 2008
Big question: what do you do with 12 million pixels in a digital image? With Nikon’s flagship digicam, the Coolpix P5100, you’ll need to know.
Barrie Smith | Dec 22, 2007
As I type these words, I am waiting for Apple's Developer Connection web site to ease up sufficiently for me to download the long-awaited Software Developer Kit for the iPhone (and iPod touch, just by the by). In a way, I hate developer-oriented announcements — "here's a really cool thing we're working on, and it's available now, and hoi polloi can have it in about six months". Actually, it's the six months I hate.
