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Few will argue that Nikon’s DSLRs are among the most esteemed digital cameras available; however, the prevailing sentiment among photo enthusiasts is that the compact Nikon digicams often pale in comparison to their bigger siblings. All that’s about to change with the introduction of the shirt-pocket sized Nikon Coolpix P50 ($160, street), an 8.1-megapixel image-making dynamo.

The Coolpix P50 is nearly the size of Nikon’s flagship point-and-shoot, the Coolpix P5100, yet has none of the gizmos, fluff, and confounding extras that get in the way of everyday shooting. There are no WiFi features, complex button schemes to learn or even a hot shoe. What you’ve got instead with the P50 is a stripped-down hotrod of a camera for the casual snapshooter or budget-minded enthusiast.

Sure, you give up some high-end control for the cost, such as RAW capture and full manual exposure, but we’re OK with that at this price. Nikon is more than generous with shutter speeds though, having a full range from 8 seconds to 1/1000th of a second available and an ISO range of 64 to 2000. It is clear though that Nikon’s intent is to make the P50 a utilitarian image-producing machine.

The P50 fits well in smaller hands and snuggles into a shirt pocket, but measuring 3.8 x 2.6 x 1.8 inches and weighing-in at 5.6 ounces, it will appear a bit bulky and feel weighted.

Even the battery source for the P50 has been simplified, using 2 standard “AA” batteries for power. The conservative feature set also allows the P50 to sip power, having a CIPA rating of 140 shots — respectable for just 2 cells. Real-life evaluations with the camera however, are more in the range of 200-230 shots using fresh batteries.

Placing the P50 next to the more complex flagship of the Coolpix line, the P5100, is an amazing lesson in making simplicity work very well. It may seem unfair to compare the P50 to the higher-end P5100, yet in many ways, they are similar beasts. Like the P5100, the P50 uses Nikon’s EXPEED image processing engine to improve the overall quality of the picture. The P50 also has Nikon’s VR image stabilization, yet uses software to achieve this rather than the more complex lens shifting technology incorporated into the P5100. The P50 also features an optical viewfinder and has some limited manual exposure controls. Add to this facial detection, high ISO capability, D-lighting image processing, which can take a lesser image and reprocess it to create a highly improved image, and an optical viewfinder. Still want more? The list of features doesn’t stop there either — try 256-segment matrix metering, in-camera red-eye fix and full motion, VGA quality video that allows you to rack the zoom while recording, and all for a remarkable price of just under $160. Reading all of this, you’re more than likely thinking that this doesn’t sound like a simple to use point and shoot. Relax. Nikon’s designer’s have simplified everything.

The P50 has a flat black polycarbonate finish that doesn’t show fingerprints and smudges on the body. Ergonomically, we’re happy to report that the P50 is nearly identical to the P5100 and is comfortable to hold in your hands. Nikon has also smartly given all control features on the camera a highly visible brushed chrome finish that makes them stand out against the black camera body. All of the buttons are at least as large as those found on the P5100 and in some instances they are significantly larger. An example of this is the power button, which in an unscientific side-by-side comparison appears to be about twice as large on the P50.

One distinct difference in the P50 is the zoom toggle switch, which engages the 3X optical 28-102mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.8-5.6 lens. On the P50, the zoom toggle is located on the back face of the camera and within easy reach of your thumb. This makes for more comfortable and precise control of the lens and is more desirable in comparison to the P5100’s zoom toggle that wraps around the shutter release button and is quite tiny in comparison.

The P50 also uses a 2.4-inch (115,000-dot) LCD that doubles as a menu screen. In our field tests, the screen appeared sharp and mostly bright, but noticeably more coarse than comparable screens with higher pixel counts. It was also difficult to see in some situations when strong sunlight was at our back. While many other LCD screens fare similarly in this situation, the P50 seemed to suffer sunlight glare to an extreme. The good news though is that unlike many other cameras in this price range, the P50 has an optical viewfinder that will allow basic composition of the image, even in the brightest and darkest shooting situations. Interestingly though, you don’t have to turn the LCD off to use the viewfinder, but doing so eliminates “LCD blinding.”

Turning off the LCD screen viewfinder is a simple button push. On the up side, the finder zooms in tandem to the lens racking and gives you an approximate shooting scene. The down side with this system is that it’s small and not too friendly to those who wear eyeglasses. There’s no dioptor correction either, making it difficult to compose using this finder without glasses. Another complaint is that the optical finder only shows 80% of the image area, making composing the image a hit-or-miss proposition. Parallax is also a concern since the lens making the image is situated differently from the viewfinder. Another item that bothered us was that because of the hand grip located on the right side of the camera, your index finger tends to show in the optical viewfinder, making it difficult to see the scene well enough to compose the image. Again, to be fair to the P50, these are issues that have been encountered with other similar cameras such as the P5100. The lesson here is to use the LCD viewfinder if precise framing is required.

The P50 has VR image stability that differs from the more expensive P5100. In the P5100, image stability is achieved by having what Nikon describes as an “Angular Velocity Sensor,” which detects shake and applies movement using motors that are attached to the glass optics in the lens. The P50 still uses the Angular Velocity Sensor, but rather than having a physical lens element move, calculations are made in the EXPEED processing engine that dampen or eliminate the effects of image shake, which are then corrected in the image file itself. While this will not produce the same quality in comparison to optical VR lenses, it’s is an amazingly sophisticated system for a sub-$200 camera. Most comparably priced cameras with “Anti-shake” simply raise the ISO to create a higher shutter speed, which will ultimately reduce the overall image quality by introducing additional noise into the image. Nikon has taken the high-road here and, judging from the samples we shot, it’s system appears to work well.

The focus was quick and snappy, with little lag time and dead-on focus and exposure more often than not. Bursting shots was surprisingly good as well, firing off six frames in five seconds, which places the P50 on the fast side of the economical point and shoot category. The P50 was able to shoot continuously for 15 seconds before stopping to write the files, giving you a total of 18 images before the buffer clogs up.

One of the biggest disappointments is that the P50 is weak on macro capabilities and again, like the P5100, seems to get worse with higher focal lengths. Nikon’s specs say that the closest macro distance is 5cm, which pales in comparison to other similar cameras by Canon, Fuji and Olympus that can get in as close as 1cm in many cases. This was perhaps the single most distressing flaw in the P50.

When we examined the images shot with the P50, they were zoomed to 200% in Photoshop CS3 before seeing the typical noise and artifacting that’s common in point and shoot cameras. It became obvious that the EXPEED processing is much more than a catchy name, and has clearly put Nikon’s image processing engine at the head of the pack. Considering the combination of excellent glass, ample megapixels, VR and EXPEED processing, the images produced by the P50 should make some excellent enlargements given a technically correct image file.

Nikon has chosen a somewhat confusing way of choosing scene selection. In Nikon cameras, you have “Modes” and “Scenes.” The modes for the P50 are Portrait, Landscape and Night Portrait. Additionally, the dial contains Program, Manual, High ISO and Fully Automatic. This is confusing to the user because there’s also a “Scene” selection option that’s accessed by pressing the menu button and displays on the LCD screen. The scenes are Sports, Party/Indoor, Beach/Snow, Dusk/Dawn, Night Landscape, Close-up, Museum, Fireworks Show, Copy, Backlight, Panoramic Assist and Voice Recording. It wasn’t intuitive or obvious why Nikon chose to segregate the three Mode items and not simply include them in the Scene options. For example, having the “Landscape” as a “Mode” and “Night Landscape” as a “Scene” is difficult to understand. One feature that we liked is that pressing the telephoto end of the zoom toggle while in “Scene” selection will yield a brief but helpful explanation of the selected scene’s abilities and uses.

One notable scene that Nikon includes in every camera is the “Panoramic Assist.” This allows you to shoot an image, move the camera left or right and see one third of the previously shot image included as a semi-transparent overlay on the LCD screen. It’s a wonderful feature for shooting panoramic images and ensures consistently accurate framing that makes stitching the images together on your computer a breeze. The only way that Nikon could improve this system is by having an auto-stitch feature incorporated into the camera, so that when you download the image(s), they are already processed, stitched and ready for viewing. Once you’ve done all of the post processing and stitching, you can get great big, high quality panos that are ready for printing and framing.

The selection dial also has a setting for video, and the P50 is able to shoot 640×480 pixel VGA resolution video 29.9 frames per second. Additionally, the P50 can shoot half screen (320 pixel) and quarter screen (160 pixel) video for the Web. A nice surprise in Nikon’s video features is that unlike similar sub-$200 cameras, the P50 has full optical zooming capabilities while shooting full motion video. Most cameras in this price range require you to stop shooting, change the lens focal length and then start shooting again, but the P50 allows you to continue shooting full motion with sound while you change the focal length of the lens. The zooming action during this recording is completely silent and silky-smooth. The effect, in essence, is similar to that of a much more expensive video camera. The video feature also records mono sound and saves all of it to a Windows AVI file. Unlike some of the recent compacts by Samsung, there’s no pausing during a single clip, so every time you stop and start video capture, it writes a new file.

The P50’s ability to shoot time-lapse movies at 30 second, 1, 5, 10, 30 and 60 minute intervals between images is another pleasant surprise for a camera in the budget price range. The camera combines these images into a single AVI file (without sound) that can be viewed on your computer or output to a DVD. Nikon doesn’t stop there though, because they’ve also installed monochrome and sepia modes for movie making as well, adding a bit of fun to your frames while adding value to the overall movie options package.

CONCLUSION

In all, the P50 is an excellent performer for the money and in comparison to other economical compact cameras, is a really excellent deal. It is a simple camera that doesn’t require a lot of user-defined input to make an image. Its simple appearance is deceptive to the average person, yet the technology packed into this camera is total sophistication. Nikon’s genius in the design is to make the end user unaware of this sophistication through the simplicity of its’form and function. If you have less than two bills to drop on a camera, you should seriously consider the Nikon Coolpix P50.

The post Camera Review: Nikon Coolpix P50 appeared first on Popular Photography.

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It’s fall, and if you’re American or Canadian your thoughts typically turn to pigskins, marching bands and tailgating. All of the action on and off the field can be visually exciting to photographers and with a little planning and practice, can pay huge dividends to your game day shooting results.

Regardless if you shoot the pee-wee game or a Super Bowl, the basics of photographing football are the same. Following the 5 “P’s” of good sports shooting — Planning, Practice, Patience, Position and Persistence — will make your final images successful.

Planning is critical to successful football images. Go into the event knowing what results you want and how to reach that goal. This means that you know the general rules and positions for offense and defense, where the sun will be, the positions that are best to shoot from, the people you’d like to target during the event and the equipment that will work best for your shooting situation. In football, lenses that are between 200mm and 600mm are desirable for on-field action and can dictate your shooting head-on from the end zone or on the sidelines. Still, shooting with wide-angle and normal zoom lenses from the end zone can be successful — particularly for “red zone” and goal line drives.

Practice is also vital to good sports photography and will hone your timing skills and teach you to think proactively, anticipating the coming action. If you don’t have a mid-week game that you can use for practice, go to a playground with your kids and shoot them in action — running and moving will teach you to track, focus and time your shots for peak action. The bonus here is that you’ll also get some great images of your kids as well! Like anything else, shooting this type of action becomes easier and more predictable with practice.

Patience is also vital when shooting football action. Many photographers blindly shoot using a “spray and pray” mentality of more is “better.” In the long run, you generally do a lot more post-game editing with little to show for it. Look for shots that have the ball in them and don’t feel that every play has to have an image recorded. If you’re shooting more than 300-400 images per game, you’re overshooting. If this amount is equated to film, this would be a full 10-12 rolls of 36 exposure film!

Position is another important consideration that adds to your success. In football, shooting 10-15 yards ahead of the line of scrimmage or 5 yards behind will give you the right angles for photographing receivers and linemen from the sideline while head-on from the end zone will give more interesting quarterback and running-back shots. By using a more open aperture, you isolate your subject with less depth-of-field and give them greater emphasis in your image — not to mention shooting at higher, action freezing shutter speeds. Remember that shooting with a very tight crop is vital in good football images. When you’re composing your images, ask yourself what’s absolutely necessary and crop everything else out. It doesn’t matter if your subject is a cheerleader or quarterback, your viewer should be able to look at the image and immediately know what’s going on. By having people who are not directly attached to the action, it causes confusion to the viewers and the image will lose impact.

Persistence is as important as anything else you’ll do in shooting football. Chances are that the first few games will yield only a few shots that you’re happy with. Shoot more, practice, and pretty soon, you’ll have a large selection of images that you’ll be proud to show. The bottom line is don’t give up after one or two games.

When choosing what to shoot at a football game, think of your shooting in a narrative way. Tell the story about what happens at the game and do this by starting “wide” with an establishing shot and narrowing your focus as time goes on. Look for those highly-charged emotional moments and isolate the individual(s). This can be reaction after a touchdown or the disappointment of an incomplete pass or the loss of the game. In sports photography and photojournalism, emotion trumps all and will give your viewers the full story behind the game in a visually narrative way.

In many shooting situations, you’ll be able to make images with strong sunlight and will easily shoot at 1/500th of a second or faster, even with a slow maximum aperture lens. This is the “magic” shutter speed for football and is generally agreed on by pros as the minimum speed needed to freeze fast moving sports action. Set your shutter speeds to manual, and meter the green portion of the grass in the working light conditions. In most cases, green grass is ideal because it is similar to a gray-card and will give you a very good reading. Adjust your ISO and shutter speeds until you reach that minimum 1/500th of a second exposure. If the conditions are such that you can’t reach 1/500th of a second, raise the ISO to allow for a faster shutter speed. Typically though, in good daylight conditions you should be able expose at 1/1000th of a second at f/8 using an ISO of 400.

But what happens if you’re shooting a night game with horrible lighting? This is often the situation when shooting high school football, and under these conditions, a fast lens and higher than normal ISO speeds are mandatory. If you have a short, fast telephoto lens — 80-200mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8, or a digital-only 50-150mm f/2.8, for example — you have enough focal length and aperture to shoot with excellent results. If you’re allowed, set your shoe-mounted flash to 1/16th power and use a flash synch speed of 1/250th of a second. (Check your camera manual for your maximum sync speed. Most modern DSLRs are between 1/200 and 1/500 second. You’ll need a minimum of 1/250th of a second to avoid ghosting in your images.) If your camera and flash have a rear-curtain synch option, use it and any ghosting that appears will look more natural. Ghosting is an issue with night time football because of the lower shutter speed. The flash will provide some additional sharpness and fill in the player’s face as well.

To set your ISO for night time football, meter on a patch of green grass on the playing field under working lighting conditions and adjust the ISO until you have an exposure of 1/250th of a second at the maximum aperture for the lens. Again, an f/2.8 lens is the most desirable in this type of shooting situation, but an f/4 lens can work if the field is bright. In most instances, you’ll be shooting 1/250th of a second at f/2.8 with an ISO of about 1600. In digital imaging, most cameras will have a significant amount of noise introduced into the photo at such high ISOs, so a noise reduction software such as Noise Ninja will work well to reduce the overall noise in the image while keeping the detail sharp. There are other noise reduction products available as well and free downloadable noiseware products from the Internet.

If you still shoot with film, there are a host of high ISO films that will fit your needs nicely. Fuji’s Neopan 1600 is an excellent black and white film for shooting nighttime football and if you don’t like the idea of pushing films, it’s an excellent choice. Many photographers “push” their films in this type of lighting and action situation. Depending on what you want as an end result, this may or may not be the way for you to go. Pushing is intentionally underexposing your film and then compensating by overdeveloping it. In most cases, black and white and slide film push better than color negative film and if you’re not processing the film yourself, you’ll need customized processing from your lab. Be sure to tell them that the film has been pushed before processing; otherwise it will be underdeveloped and unprintable. If you’d rather “push” a slower film, Kodak’s good old stand-by, Tri-X, pushes very well and has excellent grain structure if processed correctly. Pushing film will always add grain and contrast and shooting in less than ideal conditions will also degrade the image even more, so if you are shooting nighttime football, understand that the pros grapple with image quality issues in this type of environment as well and it will never look as good as images shot under ideal conditions. Remember to make sure you’ve got a lab that can push your film before you shoot the game!

If you’re using a lens that’s over 200mm long, you may also want to consider the use of a monopod, particularly in cloudy afternoon and night games. Shake is magnified with higher focal length lenses and a good monopod will help in reducing this effect in your images. The other reason to use a monopod is that standing on the sideline for a couple of hours, holding a camera the entire time will wear your arms out and if the lens is heavy enough and can cause muscle quiver, which will also reduce the sharpness in your images.

By using the 5 P’s, making smart lens and shutter setting choices, thinking narratively and being in the right place at the right time, you’ll have an excellent football experience and a lot of fun. Just remember that to shoot truly good football takes a good deal of practice and that even those guys who shoot for Sports Illustrated had to cut their teeth, just like the rest of us.

Reading the offense: It’s not as hard as it might seem and generally, if you follow one team for a season, you’ll get a feel for the plays that are called. If the ball isn’t handed off to a running back almost immediately it means one of two things — the quarterback will keep the ball or he’s going to pass. Watch the direction he’s looking and figure out who he’s going to throw to. Unless he’s being threatened by defensive players, he will always look down field toward the received, so follow his eyes.

Third and long means what? Generally, it will depend on the offensive team’s field position and just how far they need to go to reach a “First Down.” If it’s 3rd down and 20 yards to go, you can expect a pass in most cases.

2nd and short probably means what? That the quarterback will either hand the ball off, for short yardage, keep the ball if it’s “2nd and inches,” or throw a short screen pass. These are all fast moving plays and you have to be ready at the beginning of the play. Keep your camera on the quarterback until he throws, runs or gives the ball away and then follow the ball.

Reading the offensive lineup — three wideouts means what? In most instances, if the running backs are positioned on the far portions of the field, there’s going to be a pass. If you’re in the end zone, watch the quarterback and be ready to train your camera on the back he throws to. From the sideline, it’s more difficult to do this because you have to look in two different directions, but it can be done with practice and quick reflexes.

Twin Tailbacks means what? That there’s more than likely going to be a running play. Look for the backs and be ready for a hand-off from the quarterback or a short screen pass, generally toward the far sidelines from the ball position.

4th down and a punter — what to do? Use a 200-300mm lens and focus on the holder. Place the holder toward the left or right side of the frame, depending on which direction they are moving the ball, and allow room for the defense to rush in and attempt a block. If the defensive player jumps into the air to block the kick, it can be a very dramatic image. Same thing goes for field goals and PATs.

Kickoffs? Where to focus? You should focus on the receiver, who is usually around the 20 yard line on the opposite side of the field from the kickoff. Follow him through the play, since he will almost always be running the ball.

Back in the old film days, the Associated Press was known for doing things with film processing that were considered amazing. One of their best kept secrets was an amazing way of pushing film that was quick and worked very, very well. This “formula” came from the Associated Press office in Miami and works well with Tri-X film:

“Rate” Tri-X at 1600 ISO

• Mix Acufine developer 1:1 from stock solution and heat to 85 degrees, Presoak the film with normal water at 85 degrees. Pour developer, tap and invert tank one time per second for a total of five seconds. Agitate the tank for five seconds every 45 seconds. Develop the film for a total of 2 minutes and 15 seconds.

• Use tap water heated to 85 degrees and rinse film after development.

• Pour rapid fixer heated to 85 degrees and fix film for twice the time it takes to clear at that temperature (usually, about 1.5 minutes).

• Wash film at 85 degrees and Photo-flo film at 85 degrees and dry.

“Rate” Tri-X at 3200 ISO

• Heat the developer and all chemicals to 95 degrees and process the film in Acufine 1:1 from stock solution for 1.5 minutes using the steps outlined above, but all at 95 degrees rather than 85 degrees.

• It’s important to remember that pushing film to such extremes must be done with consistent processing temperatures. Big variations in processing temperatures will cause reticulation, which looks like very large, clumpy grain. Even processing temperatures and attention to details will yield great results.

The post How to Photograph Football appeared first on Popular Photography.

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Comparing the Nikon S50 ($299.99, street) to the Nikon S500 ($259.99, street), you’d expect the S500 to be the much better camera. It only makes sense, right?

I had to wonder too, since the names are so similar, would people mistake one for the other and if they did, would they be as happy with the camera they thought they were getting? There’s a lot of communal technology shared between these two cameras and in most aspects they are almost identical internally, yet packaged differently. Still, there are subtle differences that can move a consumer to choose one over the other and by researching the differences, you can ensure that what you pay for is really what you wanted.

The confusing nomenclature of these two cameras is only aggravated by the differing S50 models. There’s the S50 and the S50c. The “c” designates the wireless model that allows you to connect, upload and send images from Wi-Fi hotspots. This feature allows the user to locate a wireless network SSID and either e-mail images using the Nikon Coolpix Connect 2 or store them on a photo file server. The S50c also allows the user to use WEP wireless security, which enables the camera to register with secured networks. It’s a great feature that begs the question: Why does Nikon market a “with” and “without” version — with just about a ten dollar price difference (on store shelves, that is — list is about $50 apart). Just give us the wireless already!

The 7.1 megapixel S500 is a “Camera of Steel.” The entire body is made of high grade, thick stainless steel that feels rock solid in your hands and has a surprisingly weighty feel to it. The S500 is also considerably boxier than the S50 and is almost utilitarian in its simplistic design. The backside controls on the S500 are also more graphically muted than the S50, having a 2.5 inch (230,000 pixel) LCD viewfinder/screen and button design/function keys that are noticeably larger than the S50. The zoom toggle has a longer width on the S500, but is thinner vertically than the S50, making zoom functions on the S500 more difficult. Yet, even with that one shortfall, the S500 is the overall winner in button placement and design.

The 7.2 MP Coolpix S50 has some thoroughly modern design elements and features a sexy, black satin finish that oozes luster in between the highly polished chrome embellishments. It’s a good looking addition to any pocket and the chrome treatment for the buttons and components gives it that air of sophistication that few can ignore when it’s pulled out for a snapshot. Flipping the S50 over, you see the generous 3-inch (230,000 pixel) LCD viewfinder and viewing screen and to the right, an additional collection of chrome buttons that feel solid and ergonomically well placed but small in comparison to the S500.

A stand-out feature on the back panel of both cameras is the function button, which turns either clockwise or counter clockwise and allows you to scroll through menu selections. The readouts on the screens of both cameras are identical as well. The text and graphics on the LCD are oversized and incredibly easy to view under almost any lighting condition. The menu makes sense and is intuitive, even for inexperienced users. One of my favorite functions using the menu is reviewing the images. In review mode, the images are contained in a small semi-circle, and rotating the function button either clockwise or counter clockwise advances the image preview in the same direction and then shows a larger version when you stay on the image.

Nikon also decided to make the 3x (35-105mm f/2.8-4.7 35mm equivalent) lens on the S500 telescopic and because of this, the lens has a deeper profile in comparison to the S50. This can be a blessing in disguise though, because you eliminate the right angle mirror and in my judgment, there was a subtle difference in image sharpness apparent on a high resolution Trinitron monitor. The S50 has a low profile, 3x (38mm to 114mm f/3.3-4.2 35mm equivalent) lens that using a right-angle mirror to zoom internally. This allows the lens elements to move along the width of the camera, helping maintain its thin profile regardless of the zoom power you’re using. In lens design, the S500 differs from the S50 by having a very fast f/2.8 maximum aperture, yet is slower than the S50 with a sluggish f/4.7 on the telephoto end of the zoom rack compared to the S50’s f/4.2.

Nikon does make attempts to enhance the sharpness in both cameras by incorporating true Vibration Reduction (VR) technology. In many competitively priced compact cameras, manufacturers claim to have “image stabilization” by upping the ISO, which allows faster shutter speeds to be used when making an image, thereby showing less blur, but at the cost of increased noise and decreased resolution. The S50 and S500 are different in that they use a type of VR technology that Nikon installs in its premium DSLR lens line.

This system works by incorporating two motion sensors — a pitch sensor, which detects vertical movements, and a yaw sensor that measures horizontal movement. These two sensors can also combine to detect diagonal movements as well. The sensors take readings 1,000 times a second and adjust the lens elements to correct for hand shake or motion blurring by instantly moving the floating element to compensate for the camera movement. The VR system is most effective at moderate focal lengths and lower shutter speeds. This allows the typical user to shoot a full stop or two lower in comparison to conventional lenses without vibration reduction and without impacting image quality significantly. Having the ability to incorporate this kind of technology into an area about the size of a deck of cards and about half as thick is pretty amazing. This can be an important consideration for the casual shooter because it allows image making at lower ISOs, which should give you higher image quality with less noise.

Like many of their counterparts, the S50 and S500 allow you to shoot NTSC quality video and store it on a SD card. One item that I found as a hidden jewel in these cameras is that the VR technology works for the video too. Because of this the video had surprisingly little shake, even though I went out of my way to cause camera movement during the recording. The images are sharp and showed little vertical smear, common in many similar cameras with video capabilities. Both cameras are also capable of shooting video at half resolution (320x240pixels) or quarter resolution (160×120 pixels), and have a nifty stop-motion sequence shooting mode that can be set for 5, 10 or 15 frames per second playback. Also included in both cameras is a time-lapse shooting mode that can record images at 30-second, one-, five-, ten- and 30-minute intervals.

Both cameras also record audio only and have 15 different scene modes that for the most part are run-of-the-mill. One exception is the “Panoramic assist” mode, which is one of the friendliest ways to ensure that the images you stitch together match up. Nikon does this by allowing you to shoot up to three frames for use in a panorama. Shoot the first image and after a second of processing time, a transparent image covers either the left or right third of the viewing screen, depending on which direction you’re panning. Simply match up their area with the live scene and shoot your next frame. A new transparent image emerges to allow you to match the scene for the third frame. Hopefully Nikon will consider incorporating this feature into its DSLR line.

Both cameras can shoot from 7MP down to VGA Screen resolution (640×480 pixels), and both also have a 16:9 mode that allows you to show images on a HDTV without distortion. Both cameras are a little skimpy on color space modes as well, giving the user the option of a normal color mode and a saturated mode. If you want to shoot monochromatically, you have the choices of true black and white, sepia and “Cyanotype,” which is really a blue-bias duotone.

Not surprisingly, both also have facial recognition abilities and “Anti shake” features, which work differently from the VR abilities previously mentioned. The Anti shake mode automatically ups the ISO to 1600 and puts the camera into BSS (Best Shot Selector) mode. BSS takes a sequence of ten images and selects the best by analyzing each image for sharpness and focus.

In the facial recognition mode, the camera searches for the one most prominent face within the scene and adjusts the exposure setting to optimize that face. It’s a nice feature on both cameras, but we’ve seen more robust facial recognition features in other cameras. Facial recognition in these two digicams is simple to use, but doesn’t really illustrate that it’s found the face that you want it to find by highlighting and boxing the active area. Outside of the MacIntosh-like smiley face flashing on screen, you really don’t know if the camera has found the face.

So, you’re asking yourself why should you spend the extra $50 for the S500? Only do it if things like a faster wide angle lens, better build quality and larger buttons are what you’re looking for! The build quality of the S500 is solid, owing to the high quality materials Nikon used to encase it in. It feels amazing in your hands, so before making your decision to save $50, go to your local camera store and play with it. The maximum aperture of the lens in the S500 is also considerably faster at the wider focal lengths. If you typically shoot in scenes that have lower light levels, this may be reason enough to buy the S500. Half a stop can be significant in the world of point and shoot cameras. The idea is to shoot at the lowest ISO possible to keep noise levels down and image quality up. Combine this with the VR abilities and the advantages become worth the extra President Grant you’ll shell out.

The S500’s overall image quality was also pleasing enough to give it the advantage over the S50. This is likely due to a design limitation of the internal zoom point and shoots because optically, the right angle mirror is one more element that the photons must maneuver through while traveling to the sensor for recording. The differences become apparent when viewing two like-prints side by side, and the S500 emerges as the real winner.

SPECS

S50:
7.2 MP
3x (38mm-114mm F3.3-4.2 35mm equivalent)
16MB of internal memory
3 inch (230,000 pixel) LCD screen
Dimensions: w 3.6″X d0.8″X h2.3″
Weight: 0.28 lbs. (4.1 ounces)

S500:
7.1MP
3X (35mm-105mm F2.8-4.7 35mm equivalent
26MB of internal memory
2.5 inch (230,000 pixel) LCD screen
Dimensions: w 3.5″ X d0.9″ X h2.0″
Weight: 0.28 lbs (4.1 ounces)

IN THE BOX

S50:
S50 Digital Camera
Strap
Audio/Video/USB cable UC-E12
Rechargeable Li-ion battery EN-EL8
Battery Charger MH-62
Dock Insert PV-12
PictureProject CD-ROM
Quick Start Guide
Instruction Manual
Warranty Card

S500:
S500 Digital Camera
Strap
USB cable
Audio/Video cable
Rechargeable Li-ion battery EN-EL10
Battery Charger MH-63
PictureProject CD-ROM
Quick Start Guide
Instruction manual
Warranty and registration card

Nikon-Coolpix-S50

Nikon-Coolpix-S50

Nikon-Coolpix-S50

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If you’ve read any of my previous reviews, you’ll know that one of the many “themes” I have is that point and shoot cameras need to have greater zooming power. In many instances, you’ll typically see a (3x) 30-something to 100-something millimeter (35mm equivalent) range lens. And while I’ll be the first to admit that this is useful, it’s also limiting.
For example, you’re at your kids’ baseball game and you want to get a shot of them from across the infield. You pull out your point and shoot camera and they take up about 1/10th of the frame. And sure, you can crop that down, but the resolution (and in many cameras, the noise) makes for a less than stellar image of your future big-leaguer.
Until now, the only real answer has been to walk around to the other side of the field and shoot. But, what if the light’s wrong on that side, or you have to shoot through a fence? Up until now, this has meant a compromise for the casual photographer who wants the greater magnification zooms in a smaller package. In virtually every camera line, this has meant a choice between smaller camera sizes or bigger, bulkier cameras that have a stronger “reach” because of their more robust optics.
Just when you’re about to give up hope, in walks Casio, who at January’s CES show, announced that they are making a statement about wimpy little zooms on point and shoot cameras. The 7.2 MP Hi-Zoom Exilim EX-V7 (street $ 400) fits in your shirt pocket and is the latest in Casio’s line of slim, sleek point and shoots. But, unlike the ultra-slim competition, the EX-V7 has a 7x (38-266mm f/3.4 – 5.3 35mm equivalent) optical zoom and a host of other features that make it an attractive option for those who want great features in a small package.

According to Casio, the EX-V7 has the highest magnification zoom in a slim-series camera. Casio accomplishes this by using an internally zooming lens paired with a mirror along the width of the camera. The result is that the camera has no protruding zoom lens and maintains a very small size at all focal lengths. The camera also features a 2.5-inch Viewfinder/LCD screen that has a respectable 230,400 pixels and is quite bright and clear in all viewing conditions. Casio has also placed its new Exilim Engine 2.0 processor into the EX-V7, giving enhanced tracking for autofocus, more saturated colors, faster processing and the ability to selectively eliminate noise — particularly in areas such as the sky, where it can be most problematic.

The camera is small, even by compact standards. The EX-V7 stands at a slight 25mm thick, or about 0.7 of an inch, and is similar to a Palm Z22 PDA in overall dimensions. The camera feels solid and has a highly brushed silver finish with less-brushed accents and a highly polished chrome band that travels the perimeter of the camera and surrounds the shutter release button, which is conspicuously alone atop the camera. This is because all of the other controls, including the zoom toggle, are on the back right quarter of the camera. I had to wonder why Casio would move the zoom toggle from the top to the back because it just seems like it was placed so arbitrarily. To make matters worse, the zoom toggle moves up and down rather than the more traditional side-to-side. The end result is that this is less than intuitive for the user and makes the zoom lens control foreign and uncomfortable. Other controls on the back are more traditional, and I even liked having the function dial on the back of the camera with the other controls. And to be fair to Casio, it does make choosing your settings easier simply because all of the dials, displays and buttons are oriented in the same direction and are grouped together. In theory, I think this is desirable, but in actual practice, it’s less than convenient.

The front of the camera is similar in design to the Sony DSC-T10 and likewise uses a bar to turn the camera on and off. Unlike the Sony, the Casio’s bar moves from side-to-side rather than up and down and the first time I turned the camera on, I smudged the lens quite badly. There’s also a difference in the feel of the bar on the Casio in comparison to the Sony. In the Casio, you can feel the spring changing from a push to a pull as the bar moves, which isn’t the case for the Sony, which feels much more solid.

Because of its small size and high zoom magnification, the Casio can be pretty shaky when you’re hand-holding and the zoom is fully extended to its 266mm optical limit. Casio has smartly designed four anti-shake features that all but eliminate this issue in the final image. The first is the camera’s CCD Shift System, which physically moves the sensor to counter the movement introduced by the user. The camera also incorporates Casio’s Antishake DSP technology, which raises the ISO and shutter speed to a level that will eliminate any shake introduced by the user. Additionally, Casio includes speed and vector analysis for moving targets. The camera will judge these and adjust ISO and shutter speed on-the-fly to compensate. In video mode, the Casio uses an electronic camera shake function that eliminates blur while shooting video. To test these technologies, I hand held the camera with my right hand only at the full 266mm optical limit and was amazed at the sharpness of the images (See the quality gallery for examples). All of this stability comes at a price though, and one of the annoyances is that there is often a lot of shutter lag because of the antishake technology. In most situations, this isn’t a deal breaker, but if your shooting sprouting leaves on a tree, and the wind is blowing, you’ll miss many shots.

Casio also has what it calls “Best Shot” modes — a typical feature on point and shoots. These are 33 scene modes that are preprogrammed into the camera and cover a wide variety of situations. Most are quite typical, but a few did offer some nice surprises. The eBay mode, for example, gives the user a lower resolution image that’s ideal for images used by this auction portal. There are also the “Business Card” and “White Board” modes, which correct the perspective of either of these so that when viewed in the final image, they are completely square. So, even if you photograph a business card at an extreme angle, it views as being photographed perfectly flat and parallel to the camera when shot. Nice. In the “Collection” mode, it automatically switches the camera to a macro focus and displays a really nice grid system on the LCD screen while composing the image. And the one that I had the most fun with was the “ID Photo” mode. This sets the camera up to shoot a head-and-shoulders image. After the shot is made, a circle displays over the image you’ve just made. With the cursor dial located on the back, lower right side of the camera, you move the circle until it is evenly placed around the subject’s face, hit select and then the camera makes five different sized images of your mug shot in one frame. It’s one of those features that you may use only once or twice, but when you need it, you’ll be glad it’s there. There were other more ordinary modes and some of them seem quite repetitive. For example, there’s a “Portrait” and a “Landscape” and then a “Portrait WITH Landscape”. Another example of this is the “Sports” mode and the “Splashing Water” mode, which says that it freezes action. Aren’t these basically the same thing? To Casio’s credit, they have given a great description of each scene and how the mode works. Some, for example, add in color filtration to enhance the scene. It’s nice to know this ahead of time if you’re one of those people who insist on perfect color. And if that’s you, the EX-V7 has several white balance modes as well, including manual white balance.

The EX-V7 also has a aperture priority, shutter priority, and a manual mode that offers a limited amount of adjustments, a “snapshot” mode and an “Easy Mode,” which is fully automatic, setting ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Ironically, the “Easy Mode” is denoted on the dial as a four-leafed clover — we can only assume that this was chosen because you’re lucky if you get a noise-free, in focus shot in this mode! To say that it wasn’t our favorite by a large margin is accurate. Additionally, Casio has designed in what it calls “Manual” exposure. For the most part, this is really not true manual exposure. Yes, you can choose the shutter speed and aperture independent of each other, but the ISO and other settings are controlled by the camera and those settings that it does allow are not the full range that’s available in the automated modes. For example, if you’re manually setting the aperture, you have a minimum aperture of f/9, but in the automated modes, it goes to f/11. I also found nothing outside of the histogram that would work as a light meter, which I found unusual in a camera that offers some degree of creative exposure control.

The EX-V7 also records video in the H.264 encoding method. In non-geek speak, this allows the user to shoot 1.5 times longer than MPEG4 video in the same amount of storage space, but is comparable in quality. The Casio surprised me by also having the ability to zoom while shooting and records sound in stereo as well — two really nice features that will surely enhance any video shot with this camera. The sound is also recorded in a WAV format, making for easy sound editing by any video editing program. Unlike many other cameras that shoot video, the EX-V7 also has a “Scene Mode” for video. My favorite is the “Silent” mode. This is a monochrome mode that has no sound and a slightly faster speed to give video shot in this mode an old-fashioned silent movie look and feel. It would be even better if Casio would design in dust, scratches, faded frames and processing marks to make it truly authentic!

As for the EX-V7’s menu, I found that I have a love-hate relationship with it. There are some parts that are so well thought out that it’s mind-blowingly simple to use. Yet, other features such as formatting and basic shooting adjustments are buried deep in the menu. It would be so nice to have those menu items you use regularly grouped into one screen and make that the first screen in the menu. Format, delete, white balance and ISO along with a few others would make operations much simpler if they were organized with the end user and how often they’ll use these functions in mind.

Another feature that I both liked and hated was the recharging cradle. This device acts as the recharger, USB port and photo viewer. The camera sets on a small, thin metal contact strip that seems like it could be very easily damaged if the camera were not set on it correctly. I really like the idea of a cradle, but the interface with the camera needs to be sturdier. I am anticipating Casio fielding calls about what the customer needs to do to replace the cradle. At the very least, it would be good to give the user an alternative to the cradle for the simple tasks, like recharging the battery. This way, even if the cradle does break, you can still charge the camera and use it with an SD card reader attached to your computer.

As you can see, there are many things to like about the EX-V7, but like many cameras in this category, its Achilles heel is image quality. Like many manufacturers, Casio has chosen to up the mega-pixel count and consider the image degradation issues as an afterthought. Unfortunately, the EX-V7 is quite noisy. Even at low ISO speeds, I can enlarge the full resolution image to 200 percent and see what I can only describe as “Noise blobs” throughout the image. It’s pitiful, really. And at $400 a copy, this becomes a camera that’s on the expensive side of the pocket-sized market and because of that high price tag, better image quality should be a given. With all things outside of image quality considered, I’d give the Casio an easy “A.” I like the zoom ability while shooting video, the redundant anti-shake technology, the much improved zoom magnification and the innovative approach to the various scenes in the camera. But, if the image quality is thrown into that mix, the camera earns only an average “C.” And when you consider that for only $100 or so more you can get a DSLR with a lens, the Casio then starts to fade off into the forgotten.

In the Box: USB Cradle AV Cable AC Adaptor Strap CD-ROM Printed User Guide Lithium Ion Battery (Casio NP-50)

Specs: 7.2 MP 11.6MB internal memory 95.5 x 59.8 x 25.1 mm weight 149 g (No battery)

Casio-Exilim-Hi-Zoom-EX-V7

Casio-Exilim-Hi-Zoom-EX-V7

Casio-Exilim-Hi-Zoom-EX-V7

Casio-Exilim-Hi-Zoom-EX-V7

Casio-Exilim-Hi-Zoom-EX-V7

Casio-Exilim-Hi-Zoom-EX-V7

The post Camera Review: Casio Exilim Hi-Zoom EX-V7 appeared first on Popular Photography.

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In 1980, the world of photography was a very different place. Film was the undisputed medium and photography’s elder statesman Ansel Adams was still alive. Those who discussed pixels, color space and resolution were typically PhD’s who were working for R&D facilities or the military. Outside of shooting Polaroids, the average photographer couldn’t fathom the ability to shoot and instantly see the results as a high resolution, full color image.

Back In 1980, George Wallace was one of those photographers, and he had an idea. An avid fan of Ansel Adams and the zone system, Wallace dreamed of making a device that would work as a simple converter — making the average camera and lens into an incident meter. Little did Wallace know that years later, his idea would start a revolution in the field of digital imaging by making a product that balances color nearly perfectly each time it’s used.

Wallace died in 2001, never seeing his invention come to its full modern fruition. His daughter, Diane Wallace, who is an art historian and amateur photographer, wanted to see his invention grow, and in a chance conversation with a forum of photographers, Wallace realized that what her father had invented was more useful to digital photographers than film-based zone system enthusiasts. So, Wallace and her family began the process of refining the disc for the digital age.

“He had a lathe on the porch in the back of his house. Back then, it took about 30 minutes to make one disc and they were completely hand made,” explains Eric Sowder, Wallace’s grandson and the President of ExpoDisc. “We have refined the process twice since then, but basically the discs are still hand made…”

Hand made, but at an extremely high level of precision. The tolerances for correct color are within 1 percent on each disc the company manufactures, which range in price from $80 to $200. This level of precision becomes obvious when you open your ExpoDisc box and see that little card with the densitometry readings for the disc you’re holding. While the density readings have no real bearing on the disc and your use of it, it does drive the point home that this is a high precision device and suddenly, it becomes obvious why the disc is a little more expensive in comparison to an average filter or cardboard gray card.

“The secret is between the acrylic elements” Sowder explains. “We take a color measurement through the materials and compensate for it to ensure that it is perfectly neutral.” The results are a disc that acts like a gray card, yet doesn’t bend, fade, crease or otherwise become a hassle to carry with you and use effectively. The ExpoDisc comes in a variety of sizes and also features a “Warming” version that is targeted at portrait photographers because it adds more green/blue into the filter itself, therefore giving the overall corrected image a greater red/yellow bias, which should add subtle overall warmth to skin tones.

The idea behind the disc is also quite simple. By covering your favorite lens with the ExpoDisc and pointing it at the light source for your images and giving the frame a correct exposure, you’ll create a perfect 18 percent reflective “gray frame.” There are however different ways that the ExpoDisc can be used, and I found that the simplest (and preferred method by ExpoDisc) is to make a custom white balance using the disc over the lens. The results are consistent on my calibrated monitor, and resembled the color of the scene that I recalled in comparison to the other white balance settings I used. In short, the ExpoDisc is an amazingly simple way to save yourself an endless amount of time correcting color — particularly if you have a large group of images that will be shot under identical lighting conditions.

The disc is thick, feels very solid in your hands and is available in 58mm, 62mm, 67mm, 72mm, 77mm and 82mm filter sizes. On one side, you’ll notice a micro prism-like pattern that gathers light from a 180 degree angle of view. When flipped over, you see a smooth, opaque white acrylic, similar in color and feel to white Plexiglas. The two circular discs are enveloped by a black, high-grade aluminum that has a perfect finish and texture. You’ll also notice a string that attaches from the aluminum filter casing to the supplied neck strap. I found this combination to be smartly designed and convenient for me when I was shooting in scenes that had changing light conditions. I tend to wear shirts with pockets on them, so rather than allow the filter to dangle from my neck, it was easy to put the disc in my pocket and the strap around my neck, keeping it ready at a moment’s notice. If having the disc in your pocket isn’t your cup of tea, ExpoDisc also provides a well made holder that has a loop in the back for belts. My only complaint with the holder is that it’s got a velvet lining. While this looks and feels great, the disc fits into the holder very tightly and rubs off the velvet, which attaches onto the ExpoDisc. I had to consistently wipe down the disc after storing the filter in the case because there was enough of this black residue on the disc that I felt it could have the potential of throwing off the color reading when I white balanced. Still, this is a minor inconvenience and I expect that the more I use the case, the less this will be an issue. If I were grading the build materials, the ExpoDisc would receive a solid “A.”

I noticed three small golden stubs on the aluminum section of the filter, and after close inspection, realized that these are three very small spring-loaded balls which are used to hold the filter in place on a lens. This to me is groundbreaking in filter design and after I realized what they did, I found it very convenient to use. No screwing this filter on and off; the ExpoDisc simply pops into place and holds firm. Of course, this is assuming that you have the proper filter diameter for the lens in use. Not all of my lenses use the 82mm filter size though, but it was almost just as easy to hold the ExpoDisc in front of my lens and make my white balance readings. I also own a 14mm Nikkor lens that was too wide to use with the ExpoDisc. It showed uneven lighting through the viewfinder, and I think that wouldn’t make an accurate measurement. To avoid this situation, I simply used another wide angle lens with a smaller diameter to make the light balance reading and then changed lenses. It’s not a huge issue, but it would be nice to have a disc large enough to cover these types of lenses — particularly since most lens makers now have ultra-wide angle lenses and super telephotos with large diameters for their digital cameras.

According to ExpoDisc’s CD manual, the recommended procedure is to use a custom white balance — this means that using an autoexposure mode (A, P or S) or a Manual Exposure (M) and then exposing the sensor to a pure white light. With a Nikon D200, which is the camera we used for the images in this story, you depress the WB button on the top left portion of the camera body and change the setting to “Pre” in the LCD. Once the “Pre” is flashing, point the camera, lens and disc toward your light source and depress the shutter. If the camera records a good white balance, you’ll see a “Good” flashing on the LCD. No frame is actually recorded by doing this, so the best backup is to make an image with the Expodisc in place and use a RAW file format, which will not only allow you to convert several images at once, but save those conversion settings for future use. In the case of studio images, you need to determine a correct exposure first, then point camera, lens and Expodisc toward the strobe from the subject location and balance.

Every camera manufacturer has a slightly different method for setting a custom white balance, so be sure to consult your user’s manual for brand and model-specific directions for setting a custom WB.

(If you’re not able to use a custom white balance, simply shoot a properly exposed frame with the filter in place, then in Photoshop or other image editing program, pick any point on the image as a middle gray in Levels and process all like-lighted images with the same settings.)

Overall, I found the ExpoDisc to be one nifty little slice of imaging technology. I shot one commercial job, at a car show with lighting that was a mixture of strobe, Sodium and Mercury Vapor. The paint on the cars looks wonderful — no green casts and absolutely no post-processing for color correction. I’m guessing that on the first job, this filter saved me an hour or two of Photoshop work. With that kind of time savings, I can easily justify its cost. I also found out that I tend to like warmer coloring in my images. I was a little surprised at the coloring when I first used the disc, and had to keep reminding myself that this disc is designed to produce neutral colors, which it does very, very well. I tend to think though that most photographers will gravitate toward the warmer toned ExpoDisc because of the warmth in skin tones and landscapes. And the design is just flat-out clever. I am amazed at the simplicity, yet high precision of this small device. George Wallace would be proud of his family for their continued pursuit of his dream. It’s a welcome addition to my camera bag and I highly recommend it.

In the Box:
1 Expodisc (available in 58mm, 62mm, 67mm, 72mm, 77mm and 82mm filter sizes)
1 Neck Strap
1 Quick Start Guide
1 Instruction CD
Belt-loop carrying case

Specs:
Within 1% color accuracy

Website: www.expodisc.com

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When a magician friend called recently to ask if I would shoot a promotional image for his marketing efforts, I quickly researched other shots of magicians and found the majority to be poorly lit and frankly a little boring. So to set ourselves apart from the rest, we decided to do something a little different.

Our first idea was to incorporate one of any magician’s best tools, fire. My friend wanted a casual look for his show, so he dressed down in his on-stage attire and I set up my lights.

I used a four light setup — all AlienBee’s. I used an AlienBee B800wattsecond (ws) for the softbox (3×4 foot box), a B400ws for the umbrella fill light, a B400ws for the background light and an additional B400ws on a boom stand for the hair light.

The graphic to the right is a setup of the studio.

Doing the setup was actually the easy part; the tough part was figuring out how to measure a flame that’s only there for an instant. Another concern was figuring out how to measure it while ensuring that the lighting in the studio wouldn’t overpower it. Too much strobe and the flame looks weak. Too little strobe and the flame overpowers the scene.

I finally decided to use a flashmeter to measure the intensity of the flame. After all, the duration wasn’t much longer than some strobes, so it “should” work, right?

Using my old Minolta Flashmeter III, I got a measurement of f/8 at 100 ISO for the flame, so I set up the rest of the lights to balance around that, taking individual readings from each strobe and adjusting the power output of the unit accordingly. Since Kurt is a pretty rugged-looking fellow, I decided to use a stronger lighting ratio of 5:1 to give the shadows some depth and sculpt his face a little more. I matched the hair light to f/8 simply because I wanted to show detail in his hair but not blow it out. Stronger lighting would have given him a more dramatic backlighting that, in my opinion, would compete with his face and the flame. The background is slightly overexposed at about f/8.5. This was done to give the dark cloth some added detail in the final image.

I shot this image in RAW with a Nikon D200 and a 105mm Micro lens, which is an awesome portrait lens as well. The most difficult part about this shoot was timing the flame correctly. To my surprise, it only took us six shots to get the image that we wanted, where his “look” was good and the flame was in a pleasing position. The final image is to the right.

Overall I was pleased with the image, particularly the one part that I had no control over — the flame. I like the lighting on his hair. It’s not too much or too little, and it had the added bonus of giving his shoulders a nice rim light as well, which gave them some definition in a similarly colored background. I also like the light on his face. To me, it’s sculpted to define his features and is pleasing.

My one dislike is that I cut his elbows off. But this image is intended for use in newspapers and magazines, so if I had left them in, they more than likely would have been cropped out anyway. We also cropped the image to be a 4:5 ratio, so it makes a perfect 8X10 inch print.

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Camera Review: Cyber-shot DSC-H527242679481Sony CybershotDSC-H5I was on my vacation, cooking my family breakfast when my phone rang. It was my editor from PopPhoto.com touching base with me. He asked about the cameras that I was using and reviewing and I told him that I loved the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T10 (Click here to see this review) but hated the Cyber-shot DSC-H5. Well, after sleeping on it for a few nights I’ve decided that hate may be a little strong. I think a better description would be that I have a love/hate relationship with this camera. With the H5, there really is no middle ground because the features are either wonderful or horrible. I had to wonder how one company could design two cameras that are so diametrically opposed. There are many features that I truly loved about this camera, but others that caused me total frustration. And unfortunately, those that caused frustration are some of the most important in making images. Hands Feel & Primary Features: The H5 (street $385) is a 7MP camera that reminds me of the old Bronica medium format cameras. It has a long, sweeping pentaprism-style bump that houses the Electronic View Finder (EVF) and under this, it has a gentle curve that fits your left hand well and is filled with the Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 12x optical zoom lens (36mm-432mm f/2.8-3.7 35mm equivalent) that incorporates Sony’s optical image stabilization system. Holding the camera in your hands, you see how large and comfortable the hand grip is. The shutter release is big and covered in highly polished chrome that begs your finger to touch it. The function dial is oversized and very easy to read and use. The zoom toggle is placed precisely under your right thumb and the rest of the buttons are well laid out and exactly where you’d expect them to be. Put simply, the H5 is an ergonomic thrill ride.

I was on my vacation, cooking my family breakfast when my phone rang. It was my editor from PopPhoto.com touching base with me. He asked about the cameras that I was using and reviewing and I told him that I loved the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T10 (Click here to see this review) but hated the Cyber-shot DSC-H5. Well, after sleeping on it for a few nights I’ve decided that hate may be a little strong. I think a better description would be that I have a love/hate relationship with this camera.

With the H5, there really is no middle ground because the features are either wonderful or horrible. I had to wonder how one company could design two cameras that are so diametrically opposed. There are many features that I truly loved about this camera, but others that caused me total frustration. And unfortunately, those that caused frustration are some of the most important in making images.

Hands Feel & Primary Features

The H5 (street $385) is a 7MP camera that reminds me of the old Bronica medium format cameras. It has a long, sweeping pentaprism-style bump that houses the Electronic View Finder (EVF) and under this, it has a gentle curve that fits your left hand well and is filled with the Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 12x optical zoom lens (36mm-432mm f/2.8-3.7 35mm equivalent) that incorporates Sony’s optical image stabilization system. Holding the camera in your hands, you see how large and comfortable the hand grip is. The shutter release is big and covered in highly polished chrome that begs your finger to touch it. The function dial is oversized and very easy to read and use. The zoom toggle is placed precisely under your right thumb and the rest of the buttons are well laid out and exactly where you’d expect them to be. Put simply, the H5 is an ergonomic thrill ride.

The camera has nice aesthetics as well, featuring a bold ring of chrome that calls attention to the superior quality lens and the high carbon plastic body that has a matte black finish sprinkled with flecks of silver. The camera feels solid and well built and the buttons have a precise feel to them when pressed. For the price, the build quality is amazingly good. Other features are a huge, 3-inch (230,400 pixel) LCD screen that can also be used as a viewfinder when swapped with the EVF via the toggle button that’s located to the right of the EVF prism. The LCD is sharp, bright and viewable from a very wide angle. The EVF has a 200,000 pixel screen and a well-hidden diopter correction located under the viewfinder that works well and gives the image in the finder some additional sharpness.

Another cool feature of the H5 is that there is a plethora of add-on features that can be purchased separately. These include a macro lens and ND filters (the lens has standard 58mm threading, so you can use any photo filters that are 58mm), as well as telephoto and wide angle converter lenses. The H5 also comes equipped with a nice lens hood as well. Which begs the question: with all of these great features available, why didn’t Sony include an external flash (maybe even with TTL) as well, like it’s Kodak competitor, the EasyShare P712? Anyone who is interested in mounting different accessory lenses for this camera would probably like the option of a more powerful flash as well.

Battery

The H5 uses AA-sized lithium Ion batteries that ship with a charger. The advantage of using the AA design is that in an emergency, you can throw in an alkaline set of AA batteries and go. This may have been intentional because the charger that comes with the H5 is fairly slow. In some instances it took almost six hours to recharge a set of batteries. But when fully juiced, they are CIPA rated at 340 shots, respectable for this camera class.

I was also impressed with the quiet operation of this camera when all sound is turned off in the menu. The shutter in the H5 is so whisper quiet that I dare say you could take this camera into any situation where there’s a need for silence and shoot available light images without interrupting. The only other camera I can compare it to as far as the low level of audio noise is a Leica.

Video Features

The H5 can also shoot extremely high quality video and has the ability to use the zoom lens at a reduced rate of speed in comparison to racking the zoom while shooting still photos. By slowing the zoom down, it eliminates most of the noise introduced when racking the lens during video capture. At its highest quality, the H5 can shoot 12 minutes of uncompressed NTSC quality (640X480 @29.9 frames per second) video on a 1GB Memory Stick Pro Duo card. At its lowest quality, the H5 is able to produce MPEG VX videos that use 8 fps at a resolution of 160×120. It is however, quite choppy and should be a last resort for video. There are other quality levels in between these that balance high quality video with storage economy that should serve just about anyone’s needs.

Optics

Carl Zeiss optics are heralded for their high quality color fidelity and sharpness. Typically a lens used by professional-grade cameras, it’s what makes the H5 appealing. The images are sharp and colorful with little in the image area that would be considered an issue caused by the lens. It’s nearly flawless and I suspect that a majority of the price paid for an H5 is for the lens.

Scenes vs. Manual

The H5 has six different shooting modes and an additional six scene modes that cover shooting at twilight, at the beach and other situations where the camera may need to compensate for adverse lighting conditions. I was thrilled to see that one of the modes was manual and that Sony incorporated a wheel just below the shutter release that when pressed, switches between aperture and shutter speed and when turned, adjusts whichever of these is selected. It’s quick, easy and works very well. Unfortunately, it’s not a FULL manual mode, since the camera determines the ISO setting automatically. Another drawback is that the minimum aperture in manual mode is f/8. Sony isn’t alone in this shortcoming though, but you have to wonder why a camera maker has manual shutter speeds from 30 seconds to 1/1000th of a second and then stops the aperture at f/8.

Drawbacks

By this point, you’re probably thinking to yourself that the H5 doesn’t really sound like such a bad deal — and in these areas it’s not. My main issue with the camera is that the autofocus is slow and even when it does appear to pop into focus, the camera will often times not shoot the image. I shot many good images with this camera but lost 2-3 times as many simply because the camera refused to shoot the image — try as I might.

I found the burst rate to be pretty slow for a camera that is supposed to be the high-end version of the consumer line. I shot 11 images in 10 seconds, or 1.1 frames per second. Even the ultraslim T10 had a faster rate than this. Surprisingly, both cameras use an image sensor with identical specs: 2.5″ CCD @ 7.2MP. Buffer and shooting speed are really big issues and while I don’t expect this camera to have the speed and buffer of a high end DSLR, there should be some increase from the base consumer model to the high-end model. This is supposedly one of the features you’d expect when upgrading to the high-end model.

The menu, like other Sony cameras, seems haphazard and thrown together without much thought about how things should be organized. On certain cameras the menu is so well thought out that it’s effortless to navigate and even without any instructions, you can go through these and find exactly what you’re looking for. Unfortunately, the Sony H5 doesn’t fall into this category and as I said in my earlier review of the T10, this is something that Sony should really consider revamping across its entire non-DLSR digicam line.

Another item that bothered me about the H5 is that it has 30MB of available internal memory (36MB total). That may seem like a lot at first glance, but when you compare it to the T10, which has 56MB internal, and then realize that the 30Megabytes in the H5 will only give you 8 high quality images, it seems a little meager for a camera that’s supposed to be in the upper end of the consumer line. Memory has gotten so cheap that there’s really no excuse for putting any amount less than 256MB in a camera like this. Make it so that if my Memory Stick should go bad, I can still shoot vacation photos or whatever I’m shooting without interruptions. It should also be possible through good menu architecture to swap back and forth between external and internal memory as without having to tether to a computer. The Sony models are lacking in this area while other camera manufacturers such as Pentax are doing this with their Sound/Image Swap playback function, and why Sony and other manufacturers don’t make this easy is baffling.

If missing some shots doesn’t bother you, and you want a reasonably priced camera that gives you high quality images for a consumer grade camera, the H5 just may be your choice. But it simply drove me crazy though that such a nicely designed camera would have issues like this. The camera is a real joy to hold and all of the add-ons allow users to have the most of the capabilities of higher end DSLR systems without the huge investment. But the bottom line is: to keep pressing the shutter and have absolutely nothing happen at the decisive moment is a lesson in total aggravation and if I were in the market for this type of camera, this alone would cause me to look elsewhere.

In the Box:

The 7.2 effective Megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-H5 digital camera
Two NiMH rechargeable AA batteries
Battery charger
Lens cap w/retaining strap
Lens hood
Conversion lens adapter
Wrist strap
USB cable
A/V cable
CD-ROM featuring Sony Cyber-shot Viewer
Printed “Read This First” guide and a 120 page camera manual

Specs:

107.8 x 81.4 x 91.2 mm (4 1/4 x 3 3/16 x 3 5/8 in)
389 g / 406 g without and with the Memory Stick and batteries.

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At first I considered going through a traditional offset printer, but when I realized how expensive high-quality, full-color printing is for this kind of project, I decided to consider the next logical step — using the Internet for delivery to the client and allow viewers to print on demand. There are huge advantages to using this method and it fits perfectly for this project. Because the Internet is such a fluid medium, the calendars can be updated regularly if needed and placed back on the site live within minutes. Another advantage is there’s no wasted copies left over at the end of the year and since the viewer is printing their own copy, no printing costs.

You don’t have to be in business or advertising to make a really nice calendar though. And even though January is already here, you still have plenty of time to make the most of the year by starting on your calendar now. Even if you give the file out to a few close family and friends, it’s still a great way to show off your photographic skills while giving your family and friends a useful keepsake that features your images. The really good news is that this isn’t as complicated as it seems and with a little time, you can create something that many will treasure and again, the bonus is that you can do this for pennies.

I had a particularly good photo year in 2006 and have several images that I shot that didn’t fit what my normal clients would want, so I decided to use these to make a calendar that would promote my wife’s spa and give me the creative outlet for my work that I wanted. I decided that making a free, downloadable Adobe Acrobat PDF file would omptimize image quality while keeping the file size to a minimum. In the first week, the calendar was downloaded 4,000 times, far exceeding our expectations. If you’d like to view and download this calendar as a reference for your work go to: www.elementssalon.biz/calendar.html

The single hardest part of creating a calendar is editing the images. I have thousands of images that I’d shot through the year that would “fit” my calendar and decided to go through these and edit for the very best 12. I decided early in the process that I wanted something lightly consistent, but unique from month-to-month. It sounds more difficult than it really is and I started by making a list of the best images and compared other images to these favorites, keeping an open mind while editing. Don’t “marry” yourself to a few favorites and don’t be afraid to mix it up a bit by adding and taking away images. I think of this as a “King of the Hill” competition, where the best gets knocked off by the bigger, stronger one. Remember too that the size and orientation should also match. Most image editing programs allow you to specify a crop size, which is ideal for consistency in sizing the final images.

Shoot for accurate color and the highest quality possible. I had decided at the beginning of the design work that I wanted to maintain a high quality image and used a 300ppi (pixels per inch) resolution, which prints well on just about any printer. A little bit of care in prepress preparation will go a long way in giving your images a high quality look and feel. If you don’t have an image editor, you can find free editing software at:

• http://picasa.google.com/

• www.irfanview.com/main_download_engl.htm

Next, take a look at other calendars and see what features they have that you want. You can make this as simple or complex as you please — including the months before and after on the page, national holidays or even special family occasions and birthdays. There really are no limits to what you can include. I decided that my calendar would be very simple; it has no holidays or special occasions, but room designed into the number area that will allow the user to write in any special notes or events that are meaningful to them. In essence, it allows them to customize their copy of my calendar.

The other good news is that you can use ANY word processing or layout software. I use Adobe PageMaker 7, but you can use MS Word, Word Perfect, Quark, In Design, PowerPoint, Publisher, Excel or even free or low cost versions of EasyOffice and Open Office. You can find these software titles at:

www.openoffice.org/

easyoffice-freeware.en.softonic.com/ie/14346

There are also thousands of legally licensed, free fonts available on the Internet that will give your document the character it needs to match the mood of the images. Font Freak has a multitude of both Mac and PC fonts and you can find them on the net here:

www.fontfreak.com

Once you decide what will be included, the next step is to sit down and design your first page. This part of the process is the most time intensive because you’ll want to experiment with fonts, colors and style. Remember to keep an open mind and try different things
In my calendar, I decided that I didn’t want boxes around the days, so I simply made a text box that would fit 5 vertical rows of numbers and then aligned the text to the right side so that the numbers lined up. Make six additional copies of these by highlighting the box and copying (control or command + C) then paste them (control or command +V) at equal increments. Place a day of the week above each row and then number the days accordingly. You’ll want to make sure you design 5 rows for each column to allow for months requiring more than four one-week rows.

I referred to my calendar on my computer as a quick, easy way to check the days for each month. In Windows, you can double click the time on your desktop, and Mac users who are running OSX can go to their “Widgets” and view a calendar as well. Simply go to the month you’re designing and ensure that your numbers and days in your layouts match up. Once the first month is done, it simply becomes a matter of selecting all of the elements on the page, then copying that entire page and pasting it onto a new page. On the new page, edit in a new photo, change the days to their correct position and other information as necessary.

When you’re planning your calendar, keep in mind how it will be viewed by the audience. I designed mine to be readable from a distance of six feet. This means that the photo needs to be large and composed so that the viewer immediately knows what the image is about. Attract viewers from a distance and draw them into your work with high quality images that are full of detail. You can test this by printing out your first page and placing it on a wall or door, and then viewing it. Your pictures should be prominent in the design — taking up at least half of the page.

In planning my calendar, I decided that I wanted a little more room to give the text some size and “breathing room,” so I chose a legal size page for my layouts, giving me a full three inches over the standard page size. I find that it also fits the proportions of a calendar better, and since legal sized paper is fairly common, it’s easy to print. Another good reason to use Adobe Acrobat is that the printer software contained in Acrobat allows you to shrink the page down to fit standard 8.5 X 11 inch paper. If you plan on placing the file on the Internet, it gives you a small file as well. My calendar is designed to print high quality images and for 12 months of images and data the entire file size is less than 6MB.

If designing you own calendar seems a little too daunting, doing a Google search for “Free Calendar Templates” will yield several results, including HP’s free templates. HP says that they are designed for small business promotion, but can be used by individuals as well. The address is:

www.hp.com/sbso/productivity/office/calendar.html

These templates are designed for three months per page, so you only need four photos. Others give you a full page per month and again, if you design your own, you can adjust size and layout to your liking.

The most important thing to remember is to have fun creating your calendar. Taking your time and thinking the pages through will give you results that are amazing to all of those people who are looking at your work. You’ll also get personal satisfaction in knowing that many people are looking at and enjoying your images year-round. And it’s not too early to get started on an 18-month 2007-2008 calendar to start this July!

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Camera Review: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T1027242698475Sony CybershotDSC-T10I admit it — I’m an equipment pig. When we go on vacation, I bring tons of my gear- 600mm f/4, 300mm f/2.8 and a full complement of other lenses, DSLR bodies, flashes, filters, tripod, monopod and other gizmos. I’ve even packed my studio lights before because I like to be prepared for any situation! So, much to my wife’s chagrin and surprise, on our most recent vacation to Disney World I didn’t bring any of that gear with me. Instead, I packed just two Sony cameras — the Cyber-shot DSC-H5 (which will be reviewed in the coming weeks) and the small, pocket sized Cyber-shot DSC-T10 (Street price $306). The T10 is a 7.2MP camera with an iPod-like size and finish that incorporates a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 3x optical zoom lens (a 35mm equivalent 38-114mm f/3.5-8 (wide angle) -f/4.3-10 (telephoto)). The T10 is Sony’s entry into the subcompact category and it sports a nice feature set — including high quality video and stunning image stabilization rolled into a stylish design. At .8 of an inch in thickness, the T10 fits nicely into your hands and pocket. The camera has a contemporary look and features a large bar on the front. The bar is more than cosmetic though, and when pushed down, reveals the lens and turns the camera on. The advantage of this is that even in dark locations, you can turn the camera on and off effortlessly without having to search for the small power button located at the top of the camera. At first, I thought this was a strange way to turn on the power, but after using this feature, I really like it and now prefer it to the traditional power button, which on the T10 is small and hard to use.

I admit it — I’m an equipment pig. When we go on vacation, I bring tons of my gear- 600mm f/4, 300mm f/2.8 and a full complement of other lenses, DSLR bodies, flashes, filters, tripod, monopod and other gizmos. I’ve even packed my studio lights before because I like to be prepared for any situation!

So, much to my wife’s chagrin and surprise, on our most recent vacation to Disney World I didn’t bring any of that gear with me. Instead, I packed just two Sony cameras — the Cyber-shot DSC-H5 (which will be reviewed in the coming weeks) and the small, pocket sized Cyber-shot DSC-T10 (Street price $306). The T10 is a 7.2MP camera with an iPod-like size and finish that incorporates a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 3x optical zoom lens (a 35mm equivalent 38-114mm f/3.5-8 (wide angle) -f/4.3-10 (telephoto)). The T10 is Sony’s entry into the subcompact category and it sports a nice feature set — including high quality video and stunning image stabilization rolled into a stylish design.

At .8 of an inch in thickness, the T10 fits nicely into your hands and pocket. The camera has a contemporary look and features a large bar on the front. The bar is more than cosmetic though, and when pushed down, reveals the lens and turns the camera on. The advantage of this is that even in dark locations, you can turn the camera on and off effortlessly without having to search for the small power button located at the top of the camera. At first, I thought this was a strange way to turn on the power, but after using this feature, I really like it and now prefer it to the traditional power button, which on the T10 is small and hard to use.

The top center of the camera has a switch that allows you to move from review to shooting still images and video. I have to say that this was one of the most used features on the camera because you’re able to go through the different functions without using a menu or turning a dial. It’s quick and very efficient. I turned the auto review feature off and simply moved the switch over to review if I wanted to see my images. The advantage of this is that if you’re shooting more than one frame at a time you don’t have that interruption between frames but still have the ability to go back and review all of the shots when you’re ready.

Inspecting the back of the camera shows a 2.5 inch (230,000 pixel) LCD screen that’s both the viewfinder and reviewing/function screen. The images are sharp but dark in both daylight and surprisingly, in dark conditions as well, even when set to the “Bright” LCD setting.

Next to the screen is a host of other buttons that improve efficiency as well. Depress the monitor icon button once and it will show the battery life, shooting resolution and number of images shot and available for shooting to your Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Pro Duo media. If you’re in review mode and press the same button once more it shows all of the above information and ISO settings, flash status, white balance status, exposure setting and histogram for the active review image. In shooting mode, it shows the histogram. If you press the lower right button, you can set the EV settings between -2 to +2 in full view of the histogram. Depress that same monitor button a third time and all of the information goes away, showing only the image. Other features that can be activated at the touch of a button include flash mode, macro settings, self timer and a toggle switch between active shooting mode and the last frame shot.

If you switch the camera back to review mode and select the same button that shows the EV settings in shooting mode, you’ll see a slide show of all your images — complete with a cool techno-style bed of music and transitions that make some of the full feature video editing programs look second-rate. Sony also allows you to upload music into the 56MB of internal camera memory if you don’t like the supplied music.

No Presets, No Problem

Surprisingly, the T10 doesn’t have a huge supply of “scene” settings — simply because the design of the camera is such that it really doesn’t need them. The T10’s ISO range goes up to 1000 and if you combine this with the optical image stabilization features built into the camera, the T10 can shoot in almost any situation without a lot of presets. Simply point and make your image and the camera does the rest. Almost without exception, the images made are amazingly sharp and very well exposed. I say amazing because some of the shots made were with exposures of as long as a full second hand-held. Add to this the legendary sharpness of the Zeiss lens, and you have an image that looks good even as a big enlargement. The Zeiss lens also enhances the sharpness of the NTSC quality video. The T10 converts video to an MPEG file that’s ready for viewing either on camera, on the Internet or a workstation. Like many cameras in this class, the video will work at only one focal length and can not zoom while the video is running. The best work-around for this is to stop the video, change focal length and start the video once again.

The T10 also uses a Lithium-Ion “smart” battery that can tell the camera precisely how much of the battery power is available. I found this to be more accurate than similar cameras and shot for a full 12-14 hours with all of the photo-chimping in between on a full charge. The battery is rated at 250 shots using the CIPA standard testing method, but we think turning the instant review off will up this number.

Another surprise for the T10 is how quickly the shutter release worked. In many cameras similar to the T10, one chip is used instead of the more expensive multiple chip designs common in DSLR cameras. The result is typically a shutter lag. In the T10, there is little if any lag. The T10 incorporates a focus assist beam that’s above average in brightness and keeps the quickness of the camera to near daylight levels even when the light isn’t great.

Like many cameras in this category, designers realize that space is at a premium, so often times, the interface falls short. In the T10’s case, this means making the user buttons smaller and harder to use. It would also be nice if Sony designed the lens to be more centered — giving your fingers more working room. The problem with designing a lens location in the upper corner of the camera is that many people will place a finger into part of the image. Sony certainly isn’t alone in this category, and the bar lowered down does help in relieving this problem, but it’s not foolproof. The 38-114mm zoom is also becoming a standard lens for cameras such as the T10. While this is a useful range, it would be wonderful to have a camera of this size and quality that has a 5x or even 10x optical zoom that maintained the same image quality level. In the T10 and other Sony models, the menu is useful, but clunky. A thorough revamp of the menu design is needed to make this camera truly head-and-shoulders above the competition.

Most of these shortcomings are minor, and for many a casual shooter, may not matter at all. Ultimately, it’s image quality that really matters and Sony has earned very high marks in this category with the T10. Using a Zeiss lens in tandem with the superior optical image stabilization makes for great picture taking in a slim, stylish package.

In The Box:

Sony DSC-T10 camera
Wrist strap
USB/AV/DC-in multiconnector cable
NP-FT1 Info-Lithium battery pack and charger
Software CD
Instruction manual and registration card

Dimensions:

3 17/32″ x 2 5/32″ x 25/32″ (89.7 x 54.9 x 20.6 mm)
4.93 oz (140 g) Body, 5.82 (165 g) including Battery and Memory Stick Media

CIPA Battery Estimate: 250 shots

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Camera Review: Samsung NV3CG800256KSamsungNV3If you were asked to design the ultimate pocket-sized point-and-shoot camera, what would you build into it? Would it be a tank-like design? Made of strong, black satin-like heavy gauge stainless steel? Maybe with a touch of color and some brushed, silver hued stainless trim to go along with it? You’d also give it at least 7MP and maybe a 3x 38-114 f/3.5-4.5 (35mm equivalent) zoom lens. The controls you design will be solid and match the rest of the camera’s build and aesthetics. How about being a portable media player, MP3 player and e-book reader as well? And of course, you couldn’t have a point and shoot these days without NTSC quality video. And just for fun, let’s throw in some external stereo speakers to get the full audio experience during playback. Since you’re going for groundbreaking, you’ve even rethought the battery charger, which can hook into either a wall socket or a USB slot, so that the camera charges while you’re downloading your images. And you’d encase all of this in a cool retro styling that’s almost Leica-like, but with a hint of neon. Your camera will feel good when you hold it too, because after all, this is supposed to be the ultimate pocket-sized point and shoot camera. And finally, since it is designed as the ultimate point-and-shoot camera, image quality is paramount. It needs to look great and shoot great as well. Congratulations, in concept, you have single-handedly designed a camera that the engineers at Samsung call the NV3 (street: $235). While it shares this list of features and abilities, the NV3 falls disappointingly short in that most important area, image quality.

If you were asked to design the ultimate pocket-sized point-and-shoot camera, what would you build into it? Would it be a tank-like design? Made of strong, black satin-like heavy gauge stainless steel? Maybe with a touch of color and some brushed, silver hued stainless trim to go along with it? You’d also give it at least 7MP and maybe a 3x 38-114 f/3.5-4.5 (35mm equivalent) zoom lens. The controls you design will be solid and match the rest of the camera’s build and aesthetics. How about being a portable media player, MP3 player and e-book reader as well? And of course, you couldn’t have a point and shoot these days without NTSC quality video. And just for fun, let’s throw in some external stereo speakers to get the full audio experience during playback. Since you’re going for groundbreaking, you’ve even rethought the battery charger, which can hook into either a wall socket or a USB slot, so that the camera charges while you’re downloading your images. And you’d encase all of this in a cool retro styling that’s almost Leica-like, but with a hint of neon. Your camera will feel good when you hold it too, because after all, this is supposed to be the ultimate pocket-sized point and shoot camera. And finally, since it is designed as the ultimate point-and-shoot camera, image quality is paramount. It needs to look great and shoot great as well.

Congratulations, in concept, you have single-handedly designed a camera that the engineers at Samsung call the NV3 (street: $235). While it shares this list of features and abilities, the NV3 falls disappointingly short in that most important area, image quality.

“NV” stands for “New Voyage,” and the 3 is the entry level digicam in Samsung’s new premium line of digital cameras. In electronics techno-speak, the NV3 is known as a “convergence model,” meaning that not only is it a camera, but an NTSC quality video camera, a stylish MP3 player with external stereo speakers built into the camera and other features. Not only can you shoot your images, but you can also listen to AC/DC’s “Back in Black” in stereo while you’re doing it. How cool is that? Samsung calls this “Sensory Pleasure” and I personally have to agree.

The NV3 uses a sharp, contrasty 2.5 inch LCD that is viewable from almost any angle. Like many point and shoot models, the LCD is the only viewfinder option. The menu is sleek, easy to read and simple to follow. Both modes use the full 230,000 pixels, making the camera’s focus amazingly accurate. Another nice focus feature we discovered while shooting is the NV3’s “Auto macro” feature. In most similar cameras, you have to switch to a macro focusing mode, but the NV3 does this automatically (many Casio Exilim models have a similar feature, but only in low-resolution eBay mode). Just place the camera as close as you want, all the way down to two inches, and it’ll focus without your changing the focus preference. For this level of camera, this is an impressive feature.

Another feature that is unusual in similar cameras is the ability for the camera to rack the zoom while shooting video. In many similar models, you must stop shooting, adjust the focal length and begin shooting once again. With the NV3, you can do this on the fly with a minimal amount of noise introduced into the clip. It’s a really nice touch, as it allows for seamless video, without jumps and breaks.

The NV3 has an audio coprocessor, which allows the full stereo sound to play and not rob the rest of the camera of its resources. Samsung built in a plethora of sound choices for camera functions too, including rock and jazz sounds that can be changed to suit your personal style.

Great Photo Features & Great Extras, But Disappointing Image Quality

The NV3 has only 10 scene modes for quick settings optimization in different conditions — less than many competing cameras. Samsung has made a clear distinction between scene modes and “Shooting Modes,” which are Auto, Program, Scene and ASR. The ASR stands for “Advanced Shake Reduction” and is a digital image stabilization system. My only real complaint with this is that by design, the image stabilization should be available and activated for any shot that needs it. Considering all of the auto features that are built into the camera, it’s a little surprising that Samsung engineers failed to incorporate this technology into all of the scene and shooting options rather than require you to manually turn this function on. Samsung has also built in some monochrome modes as well, allowing you to shoot black and white, sepia and other monochrome settings. Another interesting feature is “Wise Shot,” which shoots two images at the same time and compares them, keeping only the better shot. Again, for the street price, this is an awesome feature.

While shooting with the NV3 was a nice experience, the zoom toggle was noticeably clumsy. Using the zoom, it would stop intermittently and if you didn’t know better, you’d think that the lens had reached the maximum or minimum focal length. Push the toggle a little more and the lens begins zooming once again. It’s a minor flaw, but it’s more noticeable because the rest of the camera is such a high build quality.

Equally disappointing was the image quality. The other cameras in the NV line use Schneider-Kreuznach lenses and say so on the lens barrel. This lineage stamp is noticeably missing from the NV3 though, which is disappointing. Perhaps this is partly to blame for the disappointing image quality.

Like many other point-and-shoot cameras, the NV3 suffers from noticeable shutter lag, but is greatly improved by depressing the shutter half way to keep the camera “warmed up” for shooting. Samsung claims that the NV3 can shoot an unlimited number of frames without delays, but the real-life results show that you can expect to shoot five to 10 shots without the camera stopping to write to the SD card. Shooting 10 frames continuously took about 6.5 seconds, or about 1.5 frames per second. These results are middle-of-the-road for many comparable point-and-shoots. Writing these images took 12 seconds, which again, is typical of cameras comparable to the Samsung.

Another item that would set this camera apart from other models is designing two SD card slots into the unit. Since this camera has so many different functions that require the use of an SD card, it would be groundbreaking to have two slots and give the user the option of choosing which card they want to place images onto. This way, if you download a movie to watch, or listen to music and don’t want to use up your imaging card holding the 1000 or so MP3 files you have, you can store the images on card number two. By having a dual card slot, there is no need to worry about overwriting, running out of room or having to change cards out when you see something you want to photograph. And let’s face it, most of us will elect for four $25 1GB SD cards rather than the $200 4GB SD card. Having two slots would alleviate many issues.

Overall, the NV3 is a pleasing camera for casual snapshooters and multi-function gadget types. If having a wad of gizmos in one compact unit is your thing, then the NV3 may well be the answer to your wishes. It’s a shame though that high quality imaging has taken a back seat to gizmos in this model, and Samsung would do well to review this. If you raised the quality of the lens and image processing and added to the price, it would still be a great deal for a camera with this build quality and feature set at $100 more.

In the Box:
NV3 Camera
Software CD
Printed Operations Manual
Charger for wall and USB with cable
USB Cable
Li-Ion Battery
Hand strap
Specs:
94.5 X 57 X 17.5mm
142g without battery and card
SD card slot
7.2 MP
JPEG, AVI and MPEG-4 format
38-114mm f/3.5-4.5 (35mm equivalent)

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