Review by Edward Hor.

Price: 3 out of 5
Ease of use: 4 out of 5
Build Quality: 4 out of 5
Usefulness: 3 out of 5
Overall: 4 out of 5
Total: 18

The much anticipated and talked about compact digital camera of 2008 amongst photography enthusiasts would have to be the Sigma DP-1, their debut compact digital camera. The DP-1’s Foveon sensor is taken straight from Sigma’s SD14 digital SLR camera and is matched with a fixed 28mm (35mm equiv) f4 lens.

Pros

• The APS-C Foveon sensor, there are only a handful of compact digital cameras on the market that come close to the DP-1’s image quality in all conditions.
• Digital SLR quality in a pocket sized camera.
• Has a hot shoe for an external flash.
• Manual focus dial comes in handy.
• Nice simple design that does not scream “look at me”.
• Lens is sharp (but that doesn’t suprise as Sigma is a lens maker afterall).

Cons

• Not well suited for average-joe low-light happy snaps.
• Aperture controlled via buttons. A dedicated aperture dial would have been better.
• Slow shot-to-shot times.
• Maximum of 800ISO combined with the f4 lens means slow shutter speeds in low light conditions.

Other thoughts
A faster lens like an f2.8 would have helped in low-light conditions. Shot-to-shot times and write speeds could be faster.

Conclusion
This definitely is not a camera for the masses. The enthusiasts who are after quality photos and are willing to sacrifice slow shot-to-shot times will be happy with this camera. It will make for an excellent travelling camera for enthusiasts or professionals who need high-quality photos from a compact camera.

Canon have revealed not one but two replacements for the excellent PowerShot S5is. The two super zooms are the SX1 IS and the SX10 IS, and they both feature 10 megapixels with 20x (28mm) Wide-Angle lenses and Canon’s USM high-speed focusing motor,  with the SX1 also featuring HD 1080p movie shooting.  Other features include an upgrade to the latest DiG!c IV image processor with the SX1 also offering full-resolution 4fps high speed shooting and CMOS sensor.

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Canon today revealed the IXUS 980 IS and IXUS 870 IS, replacing the IXUS 970 IS and IXUS 860 IS respectively. The Digic4, 14.7 megapixel IXUS 980 IS has 3.7x optical zoom, 2.5″ LCD and 14 scene modes. The IXUS 870 IS also features Digic4, 10 megapixels, 4x optical zoom and 3″ LCD.

Along with the new 5D Mk II, Canon have also revealed a new 24mm wide -angle prime lens. Canon have this to say about it:

“Canon’s newest fixed length L-series lens, the EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM, incorporates the newest in Canon lens technology for spectacular sharpness and impressive performance at all settings. It features two high-precision, large-diameter aspherical lenses for sharpness across the sensor, even in peripheral areas of full-frame sensors. Lens elements have a newly-designed anti-reflective SWC (Sub Wavelength Coating) that departs from conventional coatings by using an extremely fine structure that minimizes ghosting and flaring across the lens surface, regardless of the angle with which light enters or exits. It also features two UD lens elements to minimize chromatic aberrations, incorporates rear-focusing, ultrasonic, quiet and high-speed AF with full-time manual override. A circular aperture provides beautiful out-of-focus detail and offers legendary dust- and water-resistant L-series construction using only lead-free glass. “

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Canon have announced the imminent release of the PowerShot G10 compact high-end digital camera, the followup to the extremely popular G9. The camera incorporates the following key features:

• 14.7 megapixel CCD sensor
• DiG!C IV processor
• 28-140mm (5x) zoom lens
• RAW file format
• 3.0″ 461K LCD Monitor
• Dual image stabilisation

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Canon has today announced the highly anticipated successor to the 5D, the 5D MK II. Featuring a 21 megapixel Digic 4 sensor, 1080 HD video capture mode, 3.9fps continuous shooting, UDMA card support, 3″ VGA (920,000) high resolution LCD, integrated cleaning system and ISO 100-25,600.

Compact, lightweight with environmental protection, EOS 5D successor boasts a newly designed Canon CMOS sensor, with ISO sensitivity up to 25,600 for shooting in near dark conditions. The new DIGIC 4 processor combines with the improved CMOS sensor to deliver medium format territory image quality at 3.9 frames per second, for up to 310 frames.

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Sony have updated the Alpha A700 Digital SLR’s firmware to ver. 4. The upgrade adds the following fixes and improvements:

1. Add the choice of “2 steps/ 3 shots” to auto exposure bracketing (single and continuous)
2. Add the choice of Off to the High ISO NR feature
3. Improvement of the image quality in high ISO setting
4. Improvement of the performance of the auto white balance and the D-Range Optimizer
5. Improvement of reliability for communication between camera body and vertical grip when attaching the vertical grip

IMPORTANT: This firmware update is only for a DSLR-A700 camera that has Ver.1, Ver.2 or Ver.3 of the firmware installed.

Click here for the download and instructions

Panasonic have announced they will be releasing the world’s first camera utilising the recently-revealed Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens system - The Lumix DMC-G1. The system does away with the traditional viewfinder prism and mirror system common to all SLR cameras in favour of an electronic viewfinder and liveview LCD monitor allowing for a much more compact design.

• Ultra-compact Micro Four Thirds System
• 12.1 Megapixel 17.3 x 13.0mm LiveMOS Sensor
• 100% Live viewfinder (1,440,000 dots)
• 3.0″ 460,000 dot LCD monitor
• Supersonic wave filter dust reduction
• 23 point Contrast AF with face detection
• HDMI out
• MEGA O.I.S. optical image stabilisation
• Motion/Light/Scene/Subject Detection

Along with this Panasonic have naturally revealed two new compact and light weight Micro Four Thirds lenses that can be used with the camera: the LUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm/F3.5-5.6 ASPH./MEGA O.I.S.; and LUMIX G VARIO 45-200mm/F4.0-5.6/MEGA O.I.S.

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Reviewed by Dean Woodfield.

Price: 4 out of 5
Ease of use: 4 out of 5
Build Quality: 5 out of 5
Usefulness: 4 out of 5
Overall: 4 out of 5
Total: 21

Pros:
Small enough to easily fit into pockets.
Decent enough battery life to easily last a day time of happy snaps.
Reasonable shutter response times make sure the moment is not lost.

Cons:
Will take the user a while to get used to navigating through the menu settings and quickly locating scene settings but over time it shouldn’t be a problem finding your way around the menus.

Other thoughts:
My favourite feature was “Colour Accent Mode”. It allowed me to nominate a colour to retain whilst converting the rest of the colours to black & white. The screen performed reasonable in sunny conditions, still allowing me to use the menus easily.

Conclusion:
As a simple point & shoot, I definitely recommend it!

Full Res. Sample Photos (straight off camera with minimal compression):

“Colour Accent Mode” enabled.

Sony has today announced a new 70-400mm f4-5.6 G SSM Telephoto Zoom Lens to complement the release of their new full frame D-SLR, the Alpha A900.  Ideal for sports, action and wildlife photography this new super telephoto zoom lens features Sony’s Supersonic Wave Motor (SSM)  AF system and internal focusing assuring fast Auto Focus.

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