Photography & Camcorders

Written on: 29/09/2011

Olympus E-410

"Review of Olympus E-410"

I was given my Olympus E-410 as a present and it is a fantastic camera. It is not too difficult to use, the range of preset 'scenes' will cover most situations and there are also the manual settings for when you want total creative control. The built in flash has a lot of settings (timed in with first curtain, second curtain, full flash, partial flash etc.) that have really added extra quality to my flash photography, so not much need for a seperate flash.
Its going to take me a while to learn how every function works,being something of an amateur, but this camera is really fun to play with.

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Written on: 31/08/2011

Sony DCR-TRV19

This was my first camcorder and at that time it was work very well but the main issue was the battery life. its not useful for the long journey. I have recently buy a new handy cam of sony which is also work good. full of multi-feature and also long battery life makes it perfect.

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Written on: 31/01/2011

Panasonic HDC-HS60

Having owned a camcorder for as long as I can remember, I was distraught when it finally packed up. So, thinking about a new one was not high priority due to the cost of a good one. So when my work announced a choice of gifts and this was one of them, I leapt at it. I had the opportunity to change the actual model to one of my choice, but after reading about the similar price range models, I decided this was the best one available. It is features up, packing in a wide angle lens, surround audio recording, 120 gb hard drive, sd card slot, hdmi output, 25x (!) optical zoom It has an and advanced optical image stabilisation system called Power OIS with Active mode which gets rid of hand shake, and so far from playing around with it, it actually works very well. Another awesome feature is the wind cut feature to reduce interference on the mic which can be extremely annoying on playback. It has a front mounted light for filming in low light situations, excellent addition. It has a still camera mode, and the 5mp come out surprisingly well! armed with a flash, you can treat it as you would any other type of stills camera. The lens is amazing, I made a short film about cars, and the touch screen focus is superb, allowing the simulation of much more advanced filming equipment. The software supplied with it is awful. I wouldn't even bother installing it. If you have a pc, windows movie maker is better, or iMovie on Mac. I use premiere cs4 which supports AVCHD (the native format) and edit all my stuff in there. it is very compact, slightly bigger than my hand, so transporting it around isn't cumbersome... but for some reason, Panasonic were cheap and excluded the case! I bought one on Amazon for around £10, but come on... a case! cheap. All in all, I am happy with the quality of the camcorder, and I am sure it will be perfect for the amateur filming I do, especially the snowboarding.:)

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Written on: 16/08/2011

Canon PowerShot SX30 IS

"poor quality photos, could have been an amazing camera"

I cannot believe canon would bring out this camera with such an average photo quality!! I bought this for the incredible 35x zoom which I still think is the only thing that makes this camera stand out from the crowd. I was in Capri with this camera and could zoom in from one end of the island to the other with ease while filming. It was amazing!! but up on returning from the holiday I watched the photos taken with this camera and they were a disgrace! we also had a Nikon D7000 with us and the difference in quality is just depressing. Everything we took with the canon sx30 had to be dumped!! The only things I kept were the video clips. It is such a shame they could not improve on the photo quality. The video during evening is also pretty bad quality...

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Written on: 05/07/2011

Praktica CN10x42

"budget and lightweight 10x42 Bak4 fc roof prism"

purchased to replace my faulty 10x50 Bresser porro binos that i got water in. my 1st impression was that they feel different to hold as the lenses are close together. in daylight the images were different. the old porros had a slight reddish color cast .. especially when looking into the sky. the Practika seems to be a tad brighter and a nice neutral color. the lighter weight was less tiring to hold. i would think these would be really ideal for taking on those outdoor trips.
the magnification compared well as did the 3D fx that you get with porro type design .. because the lenses are are quite wide apart.

close up was as specified .. but i wished i could have focuses a little nearer. our garden is 44ft long and they just focus the length of the garden with no spare adjustment. the covering is of a thick green rubber .. with front lens caps attached .. which can get irritating to keep moving away from the lens. oh .. can anyone explain what the red button is on the left barrel ??

then came the night. would i get to see those ghosties? we have a street lamp close to the house so i used that as a test. pointing slightly off the side i could detect the amber light of the streetlamp creeping in .. but if i held my hands out to extend the barrels this seemed to cure it. i guess a lens hood .. as used by cameras would fix this. by the way .. this was nothing drastic. just being critical.
but just to be a bit more irritating .. the Bressers shows no sign of giving up the fight! they seemed free of artifacts. damm.

im not a stargazer .. but i did a quick comparison and both pairs were about the same for me. i cant say one could see things the other couldn't. so still neck n neck. looking into very dark places again proved much the same. the light gathering was comparable .. and reasonable for so called starter binoculars.

my overall opinion is good. i bought these on sale as a special price. i really like them. anything that isn't a burden to carry is a plus. the Bressers are lighter than my old Russian 12x40,s .. but still over 100g heavier than these Practika,s. !
the lenses are bright and clear. i thought they did excel the Bressers for far off plane spotting. may-bee it was the coating but the Practika,s seem to cut through the haze slightly better .. albeit not a lot in it .. remember the Bresser,s are 10x50 .. as opposed to 10x42. i think the Practika,s are competing very well. the viewing was spot on for me. some binoculars can stress your eyes .. and make you feel cross eyed when you stop using them. what else can i say. the neck strap was fiddly to fit. the binos come in a fair cloth case .. with Velcro top .. still not matching my old Russian pair of years back with felt lined leather case .. but plenty of weight saving .. and good Q images on a budget. i would rate these 9/10 for the price alone.
its a shame when making a review that we couldn't make a direct test against the competition .. im sure there are better and worse ones out there.

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Written on: 19/06/2011

Advent ADE MDPF1

"ADVENT Mini Photo Frame Broken With XP SP3"

Since upgrade to XP Service Pack 3
The ADE-MDPF1 & ADE-MDPF1.5 no longer
work. The device now shows as a read only
CD-ROM Drive, rather than a USB drive,
hence the photo update software doesn't
work anymore. Furthermore if you attempt
to save any changes, you will wipe out
any existing pictures, and without the
possibility to reload them.

This Photoframe is now useless piece of junk.

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Written on: 03/03/2011

Nikon D3100

I love this camera. It got it a few weeks ago from Dixons Travel (tax free) at London Gatwick Airport for £430. It is an excellent entry level DSLR and hasn't really got any difference to the Canon 550D. It can film in 1080p and has live view. It has a 14.2 mega pixels and 11 focus points. And it has this new processor, don't know what its called. This is my first SLR and I love it.

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Written on: 19/01/2011

Manfrotto 785B

I agree with the other reviewer's -- the Manfrotto 785B falls apart after about a year of mild use. Cheap plastic -- the leg locks break rendering the tripod useless. It is a shame too, because the design of this product is excellent, it is light and one of the fastest tripods to adjust of the several I own. Just seems like the material (plastic locks) is not strong enough. Manfrotto should offer a recall.

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Written on: 21/05/2011

Nikon Nikkor AF-S DX 55-300mm F4.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom

After looking to add to my D3000's factory bundled 18-55 lens I was initially looking for a 55-200 motorised lens, but found there to be a Nikon AF-S 55-300 lens available, perfect I thought, I could reach the 300mm my now redundant (no internal motor in Nikon D3000) 70-300 lens gave me, but without the 55-70 gap. I read numerous reviews, and bar the professional reviews saying that the autofocus was a little 'slow' couldn't find anything untoward. I have been totally happy with the speed of the focus, even on moving subjects, and the VR (Vibration Reduction) technology makes for a nice stable image - meaning you don't always need a tripod, or nearby wall/railing to lean on. I think the lens 'may' be slow if compared to a flagship camera body coupled with a pro lens taking photos of F1 cars - but I can't compare performance. The lens is well built, and comes with hood, 2 caps, and a nice pouch which has a reinforced end. - if you're looking to protect your lens you'll need a 58mm filter. It's quite a length, protruding from the front of the camera body by a little over 5" - so take this into account with your current camera bag - I can't use it with a Lowepro Rezo 140. I purchased the lens from an online outlet (Simplyelectronics - great service, great communication, and fast delivery) for a very aggressive price (this type of product is based on spec's, I don't see what additional service a high street shop can offer for a lens purchase, bar immediate availability - if you can wait 2 or 3 days for delivery buy online and save some money. I would thoroughly recommend this lens.

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Written on: 15/03/2011

Kodak EasyShare W1020

The panel has great color but it constantly reboots. I had an earlier Kodak panel that died after about a year and a half. I have an Panel from Pantek and while the color is not as good, its' operation is rock solid. I guess 2 for 2 loser panels are why Kodak is a dieing company. Used to be a fan of the great yellow father through film and early digital but no more.

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