Digital Camera Review

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G3 Review

2009-10-04T06:13:00.001-07:00

Nobody could accuse Sony of skimping on features for their Cyber-shot DSC-G3. With built-in WiFi, web browser, 4GB internal memory, and a sizable 3.5 inch touch screen, this slender camera differentiates itself from every other consumer digicam on the market. But is the G3 just a techno novelty, or is it worth its premium price tag?

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Nikon D300S Review

2009-10-04T05:05:00.000-07:00

Comparing spec sheets, we knew that the Nikon D300S wouldn't be a major overhaul of the pro photographer's favorite workhorse, the D300. The D300S most notably adds HD video to the existing model, perhaps making it more of an attractive upgrade to D90 owners than current D300 users. There's plenty of good news here for anyone considering Nikon's newest pro DSLR, and it's all detailed in our full review.

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Kodak EasyShare Z950 Review

2009-09-06T21:44:00.000-07:00

The Kodak EasyShare Z950 calls to mind early point and shoots Kodak put out when ease of use and bright, colorful images were just about all you wanted from a digital compact. Now Kodak brings the same concepts to a much more advanced camera with manual controls, HD video and a 10x optical zoom. The result? A very capable, very modern compact ultrazoom.

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 added to Micro Four Thirds lineup

2009-09-06T21:22:00.000-07:00

Panasonic announces the Lumix DMC-GF1 today, their smallest interchangeable-lens system yet. The style echoes Panasonic's ultracompact lineup, but the GF1 is Micro Four Thirds all the way. It sports a 12.1 megapixel sensor, 720p HD video recording, and a 3.0 inch LCD. Two new lenses are also announced with the GF1.

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1: Hands-on Preview

2009-09-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

Panasonic offered DCR a few hours with a pre-production Lumix GF1 at a press event in Germany this week. The first images and video emerging from the GF1 offer a glimpse at the performance of Panasonic's latest Micro Four Thirds offering - and European history. Take a look at how the Lumix GF1 fared in and around Berlin's Castle Charlottenburg.

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Canon EOS 7D: Hands-on Preview

2009-09-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

Canon offered us some one-on-one time with the just-announced EOS 7D, and with only a few precious minutes to spend with a pre-production unit, and we wasted no time putting it to work. Keep on reading for some initial impressions and samples from the brand spanking new Canon EOS 7D.

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Canon EOS 7D steps out of myth, into reality

2009-09-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

The Canon EOS 7D makes its official debut today alongside three new lenses. The rumor mill has been buzzing for weeks, and today the 7D steps out of the shadows and into cold, hard reality. At the heart of the 7D is an 18 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with improved low light capabilities and a re-vamped metering system. The EOS 7D also aims to blur the ever-blurring line between a still camera and a video camera, offering full 1080p HD recording at a variety of frame rates. Canon fans, it's time to start writing your letters to Santa.

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Casio releases Exilim Zoom EX-Z280 and EX-Z33

2009-09-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

Casio introduces today the slim Exilim Zoom EX-Z280 and EX-Z33. The Z280 offers more of the fancy stuff, like 720p video and sensor-shift image stabilization, and the back-to-basics Z33 features a 10.1 megapixel CCD and Casio's tried and true YouTube video recording mode. Both feature beginner-friendly "Easy" modes.

Full review

Olympus E-600 announced with competitive price

2009-09-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

Olympus adds the E-600 to its beginner-friendly DSLR lineup this morning. With a 2.7 inch swiveling LCD, three in-camera art filters, and a 12.3 megapixel Live MOS sensor, there's a lot here that a first-time DSLR user would like. It offers advanced features like 4 fps shooting already found in the E-620 at a smaller price.

Full review

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX580 First Thoughts

2009-09-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX580 succeeds the FX500 as the latest model in the Panasonic lineup to feature a touch screen. The FX580 combines trendy touch interface with a new Venus Engine V and retains the 720p HD video recording and 25mm wide angle lens we've come to know and love in its predecessor. Read on for our first impressions.

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Sony Alpha DSLR-A850 joins flagship A900 as full-frame Alpha DSLR

2009-09-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

Sony launches their second full-frame DSLR today, the Alpha DSLR-A850. Like the flagship Alpha A900, the new A850 will feature a 35mm 24.6 megapixel CMOS sensor and a 3.0 inch 921k dot LCD. With a few exceptions, it's nearly identical to its predecessor. The A850 will start at $2000, a sweet price for a full-frame system.

Full review

Sony Alpha DSLR-A500, Alpha DSLR-A550 unveiled

2009-09-01T07:14:00.000-07:00

Sony announces the Alpha DSLR-A500 and DSLR-A550 this morning sporting the latest generation of CMOS sensors. Coupled with their BIONZ image processor, the 12.3 megapixel A500 and 14.2 megapixel A550 are optimized for low-light performance and boast shooting at up to 12800 ISO.

Full review

Canon PowerShot A480 Review

2009-09-01T07:12:00.000-07:00

The Canon PowerShot A480 showed a lot of promise in our First Thoughts. With the full review in, it's safe to say that the bargain priced A480 delivered on those promises. It's a basic point and shoot that serves up high quality images, ease of use, and dependable performance all under a hundred and thirty bucks.

Full review

Users Speak Out: Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3

2009-09-01T07:07:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a year since we reviewed the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3, but that doesn't mean we forgot all about it. This advanced compact is still a cornerstone in Panasonic's lineup and it's the spotlight of our Users Speak Out feature today. Take a look at what everyone's (still) saying about the Lumix LX3.

Full review

Fujifilm FinePix Z33WP Review

2009-09-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

One look at the Fujifilm FinePix Z33WP and it's obvious that this camera is having more fun than you are. Fujifilm calls it the world's smallest waterproof camera, and they mean it. The Z33WP wraps up a 10.0 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom and a 2.7 inch LCD in a tiny water and dust-sealed body. Take a look at how it performed in and out of the water.

Full review

Nikon Coolpix S620 Review

2009-07-23T03:42:00.000-07:00

BY: Howard Creech, DigitalCameraReview.com Contributor

In the old days, before digital cameras, Nikon was the film camera of choice for photojournalists, the only camera ever mentioned in the lyrics of a number one hit song, and one of the imaging tools NASA astronauts took to the moon. At the dawn of the digital age competition was vicious and Nikon wasn't as quick to see the writing on the wall as Canon and Sony.

Nikon's pro, semi-pro, and amateur DSLRs have always been well received, but their earliest digicams looked like something out of a Star Trek movie. The first Coolpix (the CP 900) was an innovative split-bodied design that allowed the zoom lens to move independently from the camera's LCD screen. The different look of the original Coolpix digicams didn't catch on as well with the public as Canon's more traditional looking cameras. Nikon's newest digicam, the "S" for style Nikon Coolpix S620, looks pretty much like every other ultracompact digital out there.

The S620 provides about the same balance of dependably good pictures requiring little user input and dead simple ease of use that distinguish many of today's popular consumer digicams, but it's smaller, lighter, and cheaper than many of them and sports a true wide-angle zoom. The camera design mavens at Nikon clearly don't believe the megapixel wars are over – so the S620 generates gargantuan 12 megapixel images, but it's small enough (2.1x 3.5 x 0.9 inches) to drop in a shirt pocket.

The auto exposure only Coolpix S620 is the little brother to Nikon's S630, but the differences are minimal and many users will likely opt for the S620's more versatile 4x wide-angle zoom over the S630's longer 7x zoom. The S620 is available in Silver, Black, Purple and Pink (my test unit was pink). Experienced shooters won't even need to check the manual before using the camera.

BUILD AND DESIGN
The S620 is an auto exposure only digital camera with no manual exposure capability. In Auto mode the camera selects the aperture and shutter speed, but allows users to control sensitivity (ISO), white balance, color/saturation, and exposure compensation.

Nikon's nifty D-Lighting function automatically enhances underexposed images by subtly lightening darker areas without affecting properly exposed areas. Nikon's BSS (Best Shot Selector) function automatically captures 10 sequential frames and then saves the one with the sharpest focus.

The Coolpix S620 supports SD and SDHC memory cards and provides 44MB of built-in memory – enough for seven full resolution images.

Ergonomics and Controls
The S620 is tiny, but it is fairly stable in hand (although it lacks any sort of serious handgrip) and it is dependably easy to use. Dedicated controls are minimal. All are logically placed and come easily to hand for right-handed shooters.

I really liked the S620's eminently logical rotary jog dial. The S620's compass switch features the familiar control configuration (up/down, left/right, and center button). In addition, Nikon incorporates a nifty rotary collar around its periphery for super fast menu scrolling and back and forth saved image browsing/comparison.

Menus and Modes
The S620's menu system is user friendly, logical, and easily navigated – the relatively large 2.7 inch LCD screen and reasonable print size make reading the minimal menus easy. Unlike comparable digicams from other manufacturers, the S620 doesn't provide direct access (via a "func" button or "Quick Menu") to the most commonly changed/adjusted camera settings and functions like white balance, sensitivity, image size etc.

Here's a breakdown of the S620's shooting modes:

Auto: Point-and-shoot mode with limited user input – the camera automatically selects aperture and shutter speed users can select sensitivity, white balance, exposure compensation, etc.
Scene: Scene Auto Selector (which automatically selects the most appropriate Scene mode for the situation), Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night Portrait, Party/Indoor, Beach/Snow, Sunset, Dusk/Dawn, Night Landscape, Close-Up, Food, Museum, Fireworks Show, Copy, Backlight, Panorama Assist, and Voice Recording.
Smile: Automatically trips the shutter when the priority subject smiles – plus Nikon's new Blink function that automatically captures two sequential exposures and then saves the one in which the subject's eyes are open.
Subject Tracking: The camera locks focus on and automatically tracks the movement of the primary subject to assure sharp focus and rapid response when the "decisive moment" occurs. Subject Tracking continues to function even if the subject briefly exits the frame.
Movie: AVI Motion JPEG movie clips at 640x480/30fps (with monaural audio). Video clip duration is limited by the amount of available memory (up to 25 minutes).

Display/Viewfinder
Like many current digicams, the S620 doesn't provide an optical viewfinder so the 2.7 inch LCD must manage all framing/compositional, image review, and menu access chores. The S620's LCD is sharp (230,000 dots), bright, hue accurate, relatively fluid, and the info display provides all the data the camera's target audience is likely to need.

The display gains up (automatically increases brightness) in dim lighting. Some earlier "S" models featured LCDs that were so shiny that in bright outdoor lighting they behaved like mirrors, making them essentially useless – the S620 isn't that bad, but it would definitely benefit from some LCD glare reduction technology.

PERFORMANCE
The Nikon Coolpix S620 is pretty quick – it isn't always the fastest camera in its class, but it's never the slowest. Start-up time is 0.07 seconds and shutter lag (press-to-capture – pre-focused) is also 0.07 seconds. AF Acquisition (press-to-capture – no pre-focus) is a very snappy 0.28 seconds.

The S620's continuous shooting mode (which allows users to capture several images in quick succession) is 3 frames in 1.7 seconds. Overall, the S620 comes in a bit quicker than average.

Shutter Lag (press-to-capture, pre-focused)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	0.02
Canon PowerShot SD970 IS	0.03
Pentax Optio P70	0.05
Nikon Coolpix S620	0.07
Casio Exilim EX-Z150	0.22

AF Acquisition (press-to-capture, no pre-focus)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	0.23
Nikon Coolpix S620	0.28
Canon PowerShot SD970 IS	0.47
Pentax Optio P70	0.87
Casio Exilim EX-Z150	1.15

Continuous Shooting

Camera	Frames*	Framerate*
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX37	3	3.6 fps
Nikon Coolpix S620	3	1.7 fps
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	10	1.6 fps
Casio Exilim EX-Z150	13	1.3 fps
Canon PowerShot SD970 IS	∞	1.1 fps

* Note: Continuous shooting framerates are based on the camera's fastest full-resolution JPEG continuous shooting mode, using the fastest media type available (300x CF, SDHC, etc.). "Frames" notes the number of captures recorded per burst before the camera stops/slows to clear the buffer.

With numbers like those shown above, experienced photographers shouldn't have much trouble capturing the peak moment in action shots – pre-focusing on the point where the action will occur and then tripping the shutter just before the composition comes together only works properly when shutter lag and AF lag are both fairly short. Shot to shot times were about average.

Shooting Performance
Nikon's VR (vibration reduction) optical image stabilization function automatically counters the involuntary movements of the photographer and minimizes the virtually unavoidable camera shake that causes blurry images by quickly and precisely shifting lens elements in the tiny Nikkor zoom to compensate for camera movement during exposure. Motion Detection automatically boosts shutter speed and sensitivity (ISO) to compensate for subject movement.

The S620 is powered by a Nikon EN-EL12 lithium-ion battery with 3.9 Wh of juice. Nikon claims the S620 (with a fully charged battery) is good for (according to Nikon) 250 exposures. I do a lot of shoot, review, delete, and re-shoot. I rarely keep track of exposures so I can't quibble with Nikon's numbers, but 250 exposures is noticeably fewer than most of the S620's competition. The supplied rapid charger fully charges the EN-EL12 in about 150 minutes.

The S620's built-in multi mode flash provides an acceptable selection of artificial lighting options, including Auto (fires when needed), On (fill flash), Red-Eye Reduction, Slow Sync, and Off. Nikon claims the maximum flash range is about 18 feet, but that seems a little optimistic, in my humble opinion.

Lens Performance
The heart of the S620 is its very good f/2.7- f5.8.6/5.0mm -20.0mm (equivalent to 28mm -112mm) 4x Nikkor zoom. When the camera is powered up, the lens automatically telescopes out of the camera body. When the camera is powered down the lens is fully retracted into the camera body and a built-in lens cover slides into place to protect the front element. Center sharpness is pretty good overall, but at the wide-angle end of the zoom corners are noticeably soft. At the telephoto end of the zoom corners are still soft but not as conspicuously so.

Wide Angle

Telephoto

The S620 is able to cram about 25 percent more real estate into the frame (at the 28mm end of the zoom) than most of its competition, but that slight edge is somewhat negated by higher than average noise levels indoors. Contrast is balanced and colors are hue accurate. Minimum focusing distance (in Macro mode) is 0.8 inches, or 2.0 centimeters. Zooming is smooth, silent, and quick.

Macro

Image Quality
Like most of its competition the S620's images are optimized for the bold, bright colors, and balanced contrast that many veteran shooters refer to as consumer color – overall color is fairly accurate with most colors relatively close to neutral. Reds are a little warm, blues are a bit bright, greens are a bit too vibrant, and (like the vast majority of point-and-shoots) purples tend toward blue – but most casual shooters (the S620's target audience) probably won't be bothered much by these minor faults.

Standard Exposure

Vivid

Outdoors the S620 (like most of its competition) does a great job – image quality is dependably very good. Exposures are consistently accurate, but lots of sky in the picture will probably result in slightly overexposed images. Take a look at the "wide-angle" image – there is surprisingly little slight barrel distortion. There is some slight edge softness, but that is typical for tiny super complex digicam zooms.

Indoor image quality is also good, but as sensitivity automatically rises to overcome lower levels of ambient lighting, noise rises exponentially and color accuracy suffers a bit. Noise levels are quite reasonable up to ISO 400, but noise levels increase quickly as the sensitivity rises.

ISO 100	ISO 100, 100% crop
ISO 200	ISO 200, 100% crop
ISO 400	ISO 400, 100% crop
ISO 800	ISO 800, 100% crop
ISO 1600	ISO 1600, 100% crop
ISO 3200	ISO 3200, 100% crop
ISO 6400	ISO 6400, 100% crop

The S620's Auto White Balance setting did a pretty good job across a wide range of lighting conditions, but shoots warm under incandescent light.

Auto White Balance, 3200K Incandescent Light

Under mixed lighting (window light, fluorescent, and incandescent) in a local bike shop the S620 wobbled a bit. See the bike helmet display shots – both were taken from the same spot (with no change in camera settings) within seconds of one another.

In addition to the auto setting there are Manual, Daylight, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy, and Flash settings.

Additional Sample Images

CONCLUSIONS
During the last years of his life Magnum pro Henri Cartier-Bresson replaced his venerable Leica rangefinder with an ultracompact Contax T. Like the Contax T, the ultracompact Coolpix S620 does a remarkably good job with some of the things its predecessors were famous for – plus it's tough enough to go just about anywhere.

The Nikon Coolpix S620 is a very good digital camera, but in the final analysis, the S620 ends up right in the middle of the 12 megapixel ultracompact pack. That's not necessarily a bad thing – higher-rated comparable cameras are not substantially better.

Like most of its contemporaries, the S620 is probably not a good choice for those who like to shoot indoors or in low/dim light, but unlike many of its contemporaries the S620 features a wide-angle lens and the ability to capture stunning macro images.

The S620 will appeal to beginners, casual photographers looking for a stylish "pocket" digicam and hikers/bikers/backpackers/travelers looking for a camera that packs lots of photographic potential into a small lightweight package.

Pros:

Wide angle zoom
Tough
Reasonably priced

Cons:

Noisy images
Poor in low light
Inconsistent results

Source

Olympus Stylus Tough 6000

2009-07-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

By David Rasnake and Kevin O'Brien

These days, the challenge in rugged and waterproof cameras isn't finding one that takes good pictures: with so many manufacturers getting in on the action and technologies improving all the time, the ability to take album-quality family snapshots, at the very least, with a camera that you can drop, dunk, and generally expose to the elements is assumed. Rather, these days the real challenge comes in getting this excellent performance in a rugged, outdoor-ready camera at a price that doesn't break the bank.

That's where the Olympus Stylus Tough-6000 comes in. Olympus has been offering up shockproof, waterproof, and generally "lifeproof" (to steal a term from their own marketing) compact cameras for a long time – long before relative newcomers like Canon and Panasonic got in on the action. And Olympus is hoping that this experience in building active-lifestyle compact cameras – and, given the current state of the economy, doing so increasingly affordably – will pay dividends this time around.

With a 10 megapixel sensor and a 3.6x wide-angle zoom, the shockproof and waterproof Tough-6000 checks a solid list of technology "boxes." And with a retail price well under the $250 mark, the 6000 offers a lot of promise as an affordable ultracompact alternative for more adventurous shooters.

BUILD AND DESIGN
Unboxing the Tough-6000, we generally liked what we saw: Olympus has put together a compact, attractive digicam that plays on its "tough" image with mixed brushed metal and composite construction. At the same time, the 6000 doesn't have the overly cheesy, flashy, or generally tacky styling cues associated with many overtly ruggedized/waterproof models. And the fact that it's small enough to pack along in your pocket – coming in at roughly the same size as one of Canon's larger SD models – gives the Tough-6000 an additional advantage for on-the-go use.

So just how rugged is the Tough-6000? Packing the camera on a recent week-long bike trip, I was able to test Olympus's waterproof and shock-resistant claims first hand. The device survived a hard fall onto pavement without incurring so much as a scratch, and torrential rains didn't phase the camera either. Like some previous rugged Stylus models, there is a concern that the typical grit and grime that accumulates from time spent in the great outdoors can jam up the Tough-6000's shutter-style lens cover, but keep this area wiped down, avoid opening the gasketed covers when it's wet, and things should work out – dare I say it? – swimmingly.

Of course, Olympus wouldn't be Olympus without a non-standard turn or two in their design: although former partner Fujifilm has publicly bailed on the xD-Picture Card memory format (and Olympus has even shown signs of moving away from it with their latest launches), the Tough-6000 continues to cling to this irritating proprietary card type.

In fairness, as with all current Olympus models using xD, the 6000 comes supplied with an adapter for using a Micro SD card as well – which works fine until you forget both your xD card and the adapter, and are subsequently at the mercy of some rural convenience store that only stocks SDs. Then, the fact that the 6000 offers a respectable 42MB of internal memory (enough for about 10 highest-res/highest-quality captures) becomes important.

Ergonomics and Controls
Olympus designed the case for the Tough-6000 from the ground up with durability and ruggedness in mind. All ports and access panels are fully gasketed to prevent water intrusion, with the release clips mounted slightly recessed so you don't accidentally open one of them while the camera is in use. The case feels very durable in your hands, with no hint of flexing or creaking when you are holding it.

The plastics feel solid in combination with the stainless steel panels, although it is still comfortable to hold in your hand with the rounded edges. The camera uses a periscope style lens, instead of a telescoping lens which would make waterproofing much more difficult.

Basic controls are logical and obvious: there's a four-way controller with a center select button for navigating the interface. Basic shooting modes are selected from a six-position mode dial. A handful of dedicated buttons provide access to the menu and playback mode, toggle display settings, and engage a list of quick-access functions (via the mysterious labeled "OR" button, which stands for "Olympus Recommended"). Zooming is handled by a small but fairly comfortable toggle switch that sits on the back panel as well, leaving only the shutter release and power buttons on the top deck.

For controls that are a little less conventional, the Tough-6000 also carries over the Tap Control functionality first seen last year in Olympus's high-end rugged cameras. Sensors in the camera body allow the device to register taps on the physical surface of the device, and assuming you enable this function (either through a menu option, or by tapping the top of the camera twice), you can simply tap the right side of the camera to change flash settings or the left side to engage macro shooting. Tapping the screen sends the Tough-6000 into playback mode, and two taps on the top of the camera confirms on-screen selections.

Built to make a handful of basic functions more accessible in environments where menu wading is simply not practical (shooting in cold weather with thick gloves on, for instance) the Tough-6000's tap recognition system worked without incident for us – even underwater. Menu options allow you to configure the system to recognize firmer or lighter taps, adapting the interface to recognize taps when you're wearing thick gloves, for example. While it remains a nifty idea, though, I do hope that Olympus will expand this function in future models to let users select which options they'd like to be able to control using the system.

Menus and Modes
Olympus's menus are getting better by degrees, and the layout of the Tough-6000's heads-up menu – which provides adjustments for key settings like white balance and ISO – is easy to call up, easy to navigate, and makes basic adjustments easy to accomplish.

The master menu interface, however, is still a little bit awkward compared to many point-and-shoots. Pressing the Menu button calls up a main selection screen, which provides access to not only the setup menu, but also to sub-areas for selecting Panorama Mode, Silent Mode, or changing image quality settings.

While all of this couldn't have just been rolled up into the plain Olympus-style page menu that you get if you select the Setup icon is anyone's guess. It's not my favorite interface, and certainly not as logical as it could be; it's also, though, not as obtuse as the highly subdivided Stylus menus from a few years back, and albeit strange and (at times) irritating, the Tough-6000's interface isn't, on balance, trying enough to present a serious usability issue.

Basic shooting modes on the Tough-6000 are as follows:

Intelligent Auto (iAUTO): A fully automatic mode, in which the camera analyzes the scene and adjusts accordingly
Program: Auto exposure mode with user control for basic functions like ISO, metering, and flash settings
Scene: The Tough-6000 features 20 scene presets, including (fittingly) four dedicated underwater shooting settings
Beauty: The camera automatically smoothes skin tones when faces are detected in the scene
Movie: The Tough-6000 shoots video with sound at resolutions up to 640x480/30fps

One unique addition this time around is the inclusion of a Beauty Mode. Programmed to smooth out skin tones only (rather than softening the entire image), Beauty Mode functions like regular iAUTO mode unless a face is detected (and in fact, if one isn't, you'll get a "Face Detection Error" warning on-screen once the shot is captured).

Display/Viewfinder
The Tough-6000's 2.7 inch, 230,000 dot HyperCrystal III LCD is run-of-the-mill as displays go these days. That's not to say performance is disappointing, exactly, but we had a tough time seeing the screen in bright light for starters – a serious concern for an outdoor camera like the 6000. In terms of toughness, the display's protective cover stood up to everything we threw at it, and color and contrast reproduction were generally accurate in both shooting and playback modes. But the lack of adequate power from the display – even after maxing out its five steps of manual adjustability – is tough to overlook.

Unfortunately, shoot under indoor light with the Tough-6000 and other issues emerge. A combination display lag/AF issue seems to afflict the Stylus in even moderately dim situations (outdoors under heavy shade, for instance), causing the preview image on the screen to freeze, lag, blur, or exhibit a combination of the three. A noisy, blurry preview and display lock whenever the shutter release was half-pressed to engage AF make the 6000 especially frustrating – sadly, at times even nearly unusable – for shooting moving subjects in situations requiring ISO 1600 or higher.

While our overall impressions of the Tough-6000 are quite positive, these twin display concerns are almost certainly one of this model's most serious flaws, presenting usability challenges in both outdoor and indoor shooting situations.

PERFORMANCE
Satisfied with the accuracy of Olympus waterproof, freezeproof, and shockproof claims, no question remained in our minds after a few weeks of testing that Tough-6000 itself would survive. But while this sort of ruggedization has traditionally demanded a lot of compromise in terms of how these devices perform as cameras, the fact remains that if you can't expect – at the very least – consistent, good-quality snapshots from a rugged camera, then its go-anywhere capabilities are largely a moot point. When it comes to camera performance, the rugged and recently reviewed Canon PowerShot D10 impressed us with its picture-taking capabilities, setting performance expectations for the Tough-6000 that much higher.

Shooting Performance
The Tough-6000's shooting speed was competitive if not impressive in our standard test, but in this case there's more to the story.

Shutter Lag (press-to-capture, pre-focused)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	0.02
Nikon Coolpix S230	0.02
Pentax Optio P70	0.05
Olympus Stylus Tough-6000	0.06
Canon PowerShot D10	0.08

AF Acquisition (press-to-capture, no pre-focus)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	0.23
Canon PowerShot D10	0.36
Nikon Coolpix S230	0.51
Olympus Stylus Tough-6000	0.83
Pentax Optio P70	0.87

Continuous Shooting

Camera	Frames*	Framerate*
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX37	3	3.6 fps
Nikon Coolpix S230	2	2.2 fps
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	10	1.6 fps
Canon PowerShot D10	∞	1.2 fps
Olympus Stylus Tough-6000	2	1.1 fps

Shutter lag is nearly instantaneous: once the camera was focused, I never had trouble snapping the exact moment I was after with the usual amount of anticipation. Getting the camera focused in the first place, though, was often less than easy.

As our "ideal conditions" studio test reflects, the Tough-6000 sits toward the bottom of its class in the best of circumstances, and even under studio lighting focus lock sometimes took more than a full second to achieve. As noted previously, indoors in a dark room, press-to-lock times of several seconds were the norm – during which time, it should be reminded, the camera is frozen and unresponsive.

Very few digicams these days remind me of the "bad old days" of consumer digital photography, when acquisition times could be adequately measured in whole seconds. Sadly, if you want to take a walk down that particularly avenue of remembrance, the Tough-6000 will happily oblige: find a dimly room, a fast-moving subject, and watch the frustration unfold. Moreover, while we fully expect to see some performance differences between outdoor and indoor shooting, the difference between these two numbers in this camera's case – and the fact that ideal-condition performance wasn't stellar to begin with – are a solid step behind even an average competitor in this regard.

The bad taste that the 6000 left in our mouths after trying to use it as a general-purpose party/indoor snapshooter is unfortunate, because in most other ways the camera's performance met or exceeded expectations. There's a good collection of useful scene presets, and the Tough-6000's iAUTO mode was reliably good (again, assuming sufficient light). The auto mode's flash-happy tendencies, even outdoors, seem to be at least somewhat intentional, helping the camera smartly correct for strong backlighting in portraits and similar compositions.

Speaking of the flash, we found it to be a bit disappointing from a performance standpoint. Most exposures were exactly as expected, capturing evenly lit, slightly underexposed scenes.

We did experience the occasional, inexplicable seriously blown-out exposure when shooting indoors with the flash enabled, but more frustrating than this was the camera's slow flash recycle rate. Moderate-power recharges took seven to eight seconds in many cases, with a full-power burst taking more than ten seconds to recharge.

Battery life is rated at a modest 230 shots per charge using a proprietary lithium-ion pack. But in a rare occurrence, we actually found the Tough-6000 to not only live up to these expectations, but actually exceed them, in regular shooting. Olympus's web-published specs aren't obvious about what testing standard was used to arrive at this number, but after two charges that yielded more than 250 shots each, I'm satisfied that it's an accurate – and perhaps even a modest – representation of real world performance.

Lens Performance
The Stylus Tough-6000's periscope-style internally contained zoom lens didn't leave us with particularly high expectations for performance. Range is a moderate 3.6x, covering the equivalent of 28-102mm (at a fairly typical f/3.5-5.1). We do like the fact, however, that you get decent wide-angle coverage for capturing more sweeping outdoor shots.

The camera's zoom controls react quickly to inputs, and nine steps between full wide-angle and full telephoto mean that you can fairly precisely frame out your compositions with this lens. Likewise, Olympus's trademark Super Macro mode sports a tested minimum focusing distance of right around a centimeter, and there's even a built-in (and blindingly bright) LED illuminator for use in macro mode or when shooting underwater.

The Tough-6000's ten element/eight group optic exhibits typical performance for a lens of this design: center sharpness is better than acceptable, with noticeable softening as you head toward the edges of the frame. Otherwise, performance was typical for a point-and-shoot, with some purple fringing evident in contrast boundary areas. Distortion was well-controlled at both ends of the zoom, with minimal barrel distortion at wide angle and equally minor pincushioning at telephoto.

Wide Angle

Telephoto

All in all, even with Olympus's optical design skills at work, if you're expecting the level of sharpness you get from most current ultracompacts, the Tough-6000 will certainly seem to be a step behind. Remember, though, that you can't dunk your typical ultracompact in water, and some of the justifications for the Tough-6000's optical compromises make a little more sense.

Video Quality
Video capture on the Tough-6000 is limited to VGA quality (640x480) at 30 fps, but the fact that there's no HD video here will be offset for many by the fact that you can, in fact, capture video under water with this model.

As seen (and heard) above, Olympus has – unlike the Canon D10 we recently checked out – even gone so far as to provision the Tough-6000 with a mic, which leads to some interesting sound captures when shooting underwater, and should generally improve the camera's standing with most shooters when capturing video on dry land.

Image Quality
With a camera like the Tough-6000, the design expectation seems to be – and perhaps rightly so – that you intend to take photo-album family snapshots with this camera and nothing more. If that is indeed your aim, and if the Tough-6000's lagging performance doesn't turn you off, there's little to suggest that you'll be disappointed. For basic snaps, especially in good light, the Tough-6000 produces images that are colorful, vibrant, and contrasty.

Getting down to the details, however, serious shooters will find plenty of nits to pick with the Tough-6000's images. In our experience, one of the more frustrating aspects of this camera's output was its bizarre white balance behavior.

Tungsten White Balance, 3200K incandescent light

Auto White Balance, 3200K incandescent light

As seen above, under incandescent light using the incandescent preset, the output is excessively cool – a phenomenon we experienced not only in studio testing but in "real world" living room shooting as well. Likewise, auto white balance is characteristically (though not, it should be noted, excessively) warm under these same conditions. Ultimately, we often ended up finding the look of the AWB shots a little more true to life in many cases, though a manual/custom white balance setting option would have been a helpful addition in this case.

In terms of processing and detail capture, the 6000's 10 megapixel sensor gets the job done as well as many "dry land only" ultracompacts. At low ISOs, there's plenty of detail, and while some processing options (a vivid color mode at the very least) would have been nice, the output is both colorful and usable assuming you don't expect to make gallery prints.

ISO 50	ISO 50, 100% crop
ISO 100	ISO 100, 100% crop
ISO 200	ISO 200, 100% crop
ISO 400	ISO 400, 100% crop
ISO 800	ISO 800, 100% crop
ISO 1600	ISO 1600, 100% crop

Things start getting messy by ISO 400, however, and by ISO 800 you'll have to be careful with print sizes if you're persnickety. ISO 1600 on the Tough-6000 looks more like ISO 3200 on many of the better small-sensor cams these days. It's still perfectly usable for web photos or even small prints, and Olympus preferences visible noise over detail-smearing noise reduction in this case. That said, there's some obvious desaturation occurring between ISO 800 and 1600 that makes high-sensitivity shots from this cam look especially flat and bland.

Additional Sample Images

CONCLUSIONS

Having just checked out Canon's new rugged point-and-shoot, the PowerShot D10, in summing up the Olympus Stylus Tough-6000 some comparisons are inevitable, and in this case, those comparisons largely yield a study in contrasts. The Tough-6000 is smaller, (significantly) more attractive, and better built than the Canon. It's also slower, heavier, and – with touches like xD memory and a slightly strange interface – quirkier than the straightforward D10. Quite a dilemma, indeed.

If you don't have delusions about the Stylus Tough-6000 becoming your one and only camera for family snapshots, you might just come away very satisfied with your choice. Used in its "native environment," for capturing photo-album shots in situations where it might get dropped or dunked, the Tough-6000 is an excellent performer, and its compact size and solid battery life are key advantages. Take it to a party or club, though, and the combination of lagging performance, slow flash recycle, and weak high-ISO output shows the 6000 to be more than a bit uncomfortable outside of its outdoor element.

At the end of the day, the Tough-6000 – which impressed us so much early on – left us feeling just a little disappointment after a month of testing. Maybe our expectations were too high. Regardless, it's a stylish, impressively solid little camera that handles itself well in the great outdoors. But for all of its adventure-photo advantages, the Tough-6000 is just a little too rough – or perhaps a little too tough – around the edges to be the all-in-one, general use answer we were hoping for.

Pros:

Superb rugged and waterproof build quality
Generally easy to use
Appealing styling
Vibrant outdoor shots

Cons:

Frustrating display quirks
Painfully slow AF in dim light
Flash recycle takes forever
Average image quality

www.digitalcamerareview.com

Canon EOS Rebel T1i

2009-07-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

The Canon Rebel T1i is the camera company's first DSLR to feature both full HD and 720p video capture in the same camera body (the Canon EOS 5D Mark II was their first DSLR with full HD capture). The T1i comes packed with pro-quality features like an APS-C sized 15.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, the impressive DIGIC 4 image processor, a high-res 3.0 inch LCD, full manual control over exposure, and easy-to-use scene modes for everything from night portraits to sports.

With all the buzz surrounding Nikon and Canon's trailblazing DSLRs with HD video, we are starting to see an onslaught of cameras being released, from point-and-shoot compacts to pro-level SLRs, with this exceptional feature – appealing to those who need HD video and the highest quality stills all in one device. The T1i certainly is capable of both.

The T1i inherits the same technology as the higher-end 50D, packing the same-sized image sensor and DIGIC 4 processor, and giving a reviewer like myself reason to draw comparisons between the two cameras. Although technologically similar, the T1i and 50D are different in size, features, controls – and, of course, price. But it is interesting to see just how much of the 50D has made its way into the affordable T1i.

BUILD AND DESIGN
The T1i is similar in design to the traditional Rebel series consumer DSLR, like the XSi or XS, but trumps these cameras's features with more resolution and high-def video recording. The T1i is designed to offer any photographer, regardless of shooting experience, an easy-to-use camera that is capable of total control or just pointing and shooting. The original Rebel series was originally built around 35mm film cameras that featured fully automatic modes, and today's Rebels still carry on this same tradition with digital models.

I have shot with many different Canon DSLRs over the years, including the XT, XTi, XS and XSi, and they have all featured a fully automatic mode, but the T1i features an even more advanced auto system called Creative Auto. The CA mode helps beginners explore creative photography without needing to understand the nuances of aperture and shutter speed.

Instead of going completely automatic, CA – also available on several other Canon models – allows the photographer to control shooting with more precision by allowing you to adjust flash output, depth of field with a slider called "Background," and exposure (that lets you control brightness/exposure compensation). CA mode also lets you choose your Picture Style, image size/quality, and drive mode (continuous shooting or single-shot).

Probably the most notable feature of the T1i is its video function, which only shares the Canon stable with the 5D Mark II pro DSLR. The T1i shoots full HD video (1920x1080) at 20 fps or 720p (1280x720) video at 30 fps. The 5D Mark II only has one HD video capture mode of 30 fps, making the T1i a new breed of Canon DSLR with selectable HD quality. The T1i also capture standard-definition video and has a monaural built-in microphone for sound capture.

Another feature that is shared with the 50D is the Peripheral Illumination Correction, or in-camera lens correction – correcting images for fall-off or vignetting in the corners in-camera. With Peripheral Illumination Correction, the T1i can correct this problem with about 25 different lenses, including the 18-55mm IS lens that comes in the kit.

Ergonomics and Control
The T1i feels larger in the hand than most Rebel series DSLRs I have shot with, giving it a more professional feel than I am used to from a consumer camera. However, the T1i has the classic SLR look and feel, and a little more hand room on the right hand grip with both a thumb grip on the exterior and also a rubber handgrip for the middle through pinky finger. The T1i has a solid construction that appears to be a mix of hard-cast rubber and aluminum alloy. The camera is well built and has a good construction, which is neither too cumbersome nor too small to comfortably carry around with you.

Like most DSLRs that have been manufactured in the past decade, the T1i has doesn't have any radically different buttons, instead it has added more pro-level SLR buttons. These include an ISO button, and Exposure Compensation button, and exterior flash button that engages the flash, as well as a Live View button that we have seen with the past few iterations of Rebels.

As far as other buttons, you have a shutter release, a main dial wheel that lets you change your settings like aperture, shutter speed and exposure compensation. The rest of the button layout utilizes the mode dial, which lets you quickly choose automatic to manual shooting modes, as well as scene modes like Sports and HD video capture.

There is also the AE lock to lock exposure, an AF point selection button that lets you to assign your focus points on the nine-point AF system, and a four-way controller on the back of the camera, a display button to change the playback view, a playback button for image review, and a trash/delete button. Overall, the ergonomics and button layout are well thought out and typical of Canon's previous DSLRs.

Menus and Modes
One of the T1i's strong suits is the shooting information that is displayed on the LCD. When using the optical viewfinder (as opposed to live view mode) you can view shutter speed, aperture, ISO, exposure compensation, flash exposure compensation, Picture Styles, white balance, metering, image quality settings, AF mode and drive mode all in one place. By clicking on the Set button you can change all of these settings directly from this screen. Note that not all of these functions are accessible, depending on your shooting mode; if you're in an automatic mode, you have less control, but if you're completely manual you can change all of these settings.

Pressing the Menu button calls up a standard Canon page menu, with tabs for different kinds of options (and a list of custom functions as well). The menu system and user interface are familiar, well-crafted and intuitive, making it easy to navigate. With a combination of the main dial and four-way controller, making your way through the settings isn't difficult by any means – and especially easy if you are familiar with Canon's menus on either their compacts or DSLRs.

A quick run-down of the T1i's basic shooting modes is as follows:

Program: This function automatically sets the optimal shutter and aperture speed, while giving you limited control over metering, exposure compensation, etc.
Shutter Priority: Lets you control shutter speed while aperture is automatically set; other functions can also be accessed in this mode
Aperture Priority: Lets you control aperture while shutter speed is automatically set; like Tv, most camera functions can be changed in this mode
Manual: Allows you to control aperture and shutter speed, as well as all the camera's different settings for exposure
A-DEP: Stands for automatic depth-of-field, which will automatically select the appropriate aperture to ensure that depth of field covers all focus points
Auto: In this mode, all exposure values are set automatically
Creative Auto: Lets you change the brightness, depth of field, and color tone (Picture Style) using a simplified interface
Portrait: Automatically blurs out the background by giving you a shallow depth of field for portrait shooting to give emphasis to your subject
Landscape: Provides you with more depth of field to keep landscapes and wide-angle shots entirely in focus
Macro: For shooting small objects, depending on your lens, this mode allows you to get in close focusing distance of your subject to get a macro of a flower or other object
Sports: This enacts the continuous burst mode so you can catch moving objects or sports, by giving you up to 3.4 frames per second
Night Portrait: A night portrait mode to take portraits at night
Flash Off: Forces off the flash so that the camera can use ambient light to get the best exposure

There is a lot on the mode dial to choose from, the shooting experience with each different mode is easy and straightforward if you read the manual. While there is a lot to choose from (which can be daunting for some first time DSLR users) the Rebel is primarily intended for the photographer who wants to step up to more control, giving the best of both worlds with both automatic settings and manual control. The menus and modes are easy to navigate, and the buttons are set up nicely, making the T1i a great camera to shoot with.

Display/Viewfinder
The LCD is impressive on the T1i, giving you 3.0-inch, 920,000 dot TFT screen (which provides the same resolution as the Canon 50D's display). The image playback on the LCD, when comparing it later after field-testing, showed faithful color reproduction and accurate images between LCD and computer.

The live view, like most systems is a little slow (this is due to the AF mirror dropping out of the way, which sometimes can be sluggish), but focusing has improved in this mode. While you don't use the shutter to achieve focus, you use the AE lock button to focus during live view. Using contrast-detection AF, the camera focused surprisingly quickly with the kit lens, even in low-light conditions. I even used the live view for a few low angles so I wouldn't jar my back, and it worked well for getting at hard-to-shoot angles. The LCD gives you 100% area of coverage, so what ever you frame up, your picture will look exactly like this – and it did on every occasion.

However, the optical viewfinder provided 95% coverage, oftentimes making tight composition somewhat inaccurate in playback, giving you more of the frame than you desire when you review it. But the optical viewfinder, like always, is a great tool for composing a shot, and the T1i's viewfinder provides a lot of shooting information on screen that you can adjust while you're looking through it. With all things considered, the T1i's viewfinder, live view function and LCD are excellent in performance and color reproduction.

PERFORMANCE
The T1i is impressive for a consumer-level DSLR, seeing as how it has some of the same features as the 50D, including the 15.1-megapixel CMOS sensor and the DIGIC 4 processor. After using it initially in a few compact Canons and the 50D, I'm sold on the idea that the DIGIC 4 processor makes its cameras, regardless of model, faster and better in low-light scenarios. This is also true for the T1i, giving impressive ISO performance in scenes with only a little bit of ambient light.

With the coupling of HD video, in either full HD or 720p, and high-resolution stills, the T1i is a tour-de-force camera that performs well in the studio and in the field, regardless of shooting situation.

Shooting Performance
The T1i seems to be a middle-of-the-road performer in most of the performance testing, but overall it is a solid performer among its competitors.

Shutter Lag (press-to-capture, pre-focused)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Olympus E-30	0.02
Nikon D90	0.03
Canon Rebel T1i	0.04
Pentax K20D	0.04
Sony Alpha DSLR-A350	0.08

AF Acquisition (press-to-capture, no pre-focus)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Olympus E-30	0.13
Nikon D90	0.17
Canon Rebel T1i	0.19
Sony Alpha DSLR-A350	0.21
Pentax K20D	0.28

Continuous Shooting

Camera	Frames*	Framerate*
Olympus E-30	9	5.0 fps
Nikon D90	∞	4.0 fps
Canon Rebel T1i	170	3.8 fps
Pentax K20D	38	3.0 fps
Sony Alpha DSLR-A350	∞	2.1 fps

The T1i uses a phase-detection AF with 9 cross-type points that can all be used, or can be assigned by the photographer. During field-testing, well-lit frames were easily captured without any resistance, but at longer telephoto lengths the kit lens proved to be slightly slower finding focus. Also important to note is that AF in low-light scenes worked considerably faster than other DSLRs in its class, finding focus without too much lens creep.

Continuous shooting in the lab proved to be faster than the spec sheet from Canon, which is rated for 3.4 fps, but the lab results rendered 3.8 fps, which was a nice surprise. Field-testing when depressing the shutter in Continuous burst mode started to slow down in speed when it passed the 170-frame mark.

The built-in flash is a nice feature of the T1i, but can be somewhat temperamental when trying to initiate it manually. Flash Exposure Compensation allows you to control the amount of fill that will fire when using the flash. The guide number is from 13-43 feet at ISO 100, and is satisfactory, mainly bringing out a flat lighting source, but can be remedied via Flash Exposure Compensation.

Image stabilization is built into the lens, but is not part of the camera body, so without an IS lens, you can't get IS. The kits lens comes with a IS motor built-in, and works by sensing tilting and shifting via a gyro, and then compensates by moving the lens element to stay steady with the focal plane by adjusting its position automatically. Canon IS lens are great in providing a few stops of light and steady shots at telephoto lengths, so it's great to have a kits lens with this operation.

Finally, the power of the lithium-ion 1080 mAh battery was a solid performer. Even after a day of shooting with 400 frames, and about 10 minutes of video in Full HD and 720, I still had a lot of shooting power left.

The field-testing aspect of the T1i was the strong suit of the DSLR, giving me great AF performance in most lighting situations, even at night. Regardless of your skill level, if you have ever shot with a digital camera in your life, the T1i is easy to figure out once you play around with it for a few minutes. That being said, flash, continuous shooting, AF acquisition and shutter lag matched up nicely with field shooting and lab testing.

Lens Mount/Kit Lens
The T1i came with the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens, which is great because it comes equipped with image stabilization right inside the lens, allowing low-light shots or telephoto lengths easy to capture without motion blur. This EF-S (Canon EF-S lenses are specifically designed for the APS-sized image sensor) 18-55mm is limiting for long distance shooting, but for wide-angle to medium telephoto lengths, this lens coupled with the IS system gives you a few stops that a lens without would.

Using this lens in the field was somewhat difficult in terms of playing with shallow depth of field because of its variable aperture. While it is a good starter lens, and better than most kits lens camera manufacturers add with their SLRs, it can be limiting depending on what you intend to shoot. That being said, the lens rendered great accuracy at all focal lengths, and showed only a little bit of purple fringing in images like my macro shots. The 18-55mm lens is a pretty decent lens for the travelling photographer, because it's light, focuses fast and gives you a nice focal range.

Video Quality
HD video in a DSLR is great any way you swing it, and being able to select between full HD and 720p is something I have not yet seen in this class of camera. So how was the performance of the HD video? Well it was excellent in both Full HD and 720p, whether it was low-light or great light. I tested out both of these settings on a rollercoaster and in a darkly lit room with a merry-go-round.

Even though the lens was not an f/2.8 lens or faster, it still was able to bring out a lot of great video. I will say this though, the Full HD (1920x1080) shoots at 20 fps, and can cause a little bit of sluggishness when shooting moving subjects. The real champion video resolution, in my opinion, is the 720p (1280x720) mode, which captured great detail in both shooting scenarios. When comparing them both, I preferred 720p because it was more fluid. Now if only Canon or Nikon will make a DSLR with full HD at 24 fps, filmmakers will be drawn to it like a moth to a flame. I'm hoping to see this in the next few camera releases from both companies: it will be interesting to see who will be first up to bat.

Image Quality
With the borrowed tech from the 50D, the T1i reproduces a wide gamut of color both on screen and on the LCD monitor. The DIGIC 4 processor and large 15.1-megapixel image sensor works in unison to make the camera fast for processing, especially at extreme sensitivities to light.

In most cases this is dependent on shooting conditions and what sort of lens you are using. The faster the lens, the better it will be in light, but using a slower lens that loses a few stops of light can prove to be disastrous in little available light. So in terms of image quality, even with the kits lens, the T1i worked well in all scenarios, providing images with great dynamic range in shadow areas, and providing fine detail in all of the Picture Style settings. The Standard setting reproduces color faithfully, presenting a wide gamut and great accuracy.

The default exposure method is evaluative metering, and consistently worked as the best method for most shooting scenarios, but had a slight tendency to overexpose for bright light sources or scenes with unusual contrast.

Evaluative metering

While there are four metering options, the best performers in terms of consistency were evaluative and center-weighted – though experienced photographers will appreciate the options provided by spot metering, especially.

Center-weighted metering

Partial metering

Spot metering

Picture Styles, or different in-camera processing options, include: Standard as the default, which works great for nearly any situation; Portrait, which gives more a soft cast to subjects by using less saturation and shifting mid-tones; Landscape, with saturation to bring out greens, reds and other colorful scenes; Neutral that is a fine balance between all worlds; Faithful that is very accurate and balanced; Monochrome for in-camera black and white; and three user definable settings that you can create by setting your own parameters for contrast, saturation, etc.

Portrait	Landscape
Neutral	Faithful

Also to note on a processing front is the formats in which you can capture your images. The T1i allows you to shoot in different incremental JPEG standards, from highest quality to compressed images to save space, or smaller JPEG sizes when 15.1-megapixel images are too big. The highest quality JPEG is sufficient, but RAW processing is my favorite when it comes to capture. The T1i offers a RAW only capture or RAW + JPEG, which is great for post-processing when you want to change White Balance or any details easily, which JPEG cannot because it doesn't hold enough RAW image data. While capturing RAW can be cumbersome for processing, it's the pros go to, but for most shooters the high-quality JPEG will be perfect.

The default white balance setting for the T1i is the auto mode and it works well in most situations, except indoor incandescent light (and even there it's better than many of its peers) and the kinds of cloudy, overcast days which I shot in – both of which can be fixed by using custom white balance or appropriate preset settings. Overall, the white balance default settings are easy to change.

Auto White Balance, 3200K incandescent light

One of the strongest suits of the T1i is the ISO performance from 100-6400 in the studio tests, proving that it has a usable image at all these settings.

ISO 100	ISO 100, 100% crop
ISO 200	ISO 200, 100% crop
ISO 400	ISO 400, 100% crop
ISO 800	ISO 800, 100% crop
ISO 1600	ISO 1600, 100% crop
ISO 3200	ISO 3200, 100% crop
ISO 6400	ISO 6400, 100% crop

Field-testing also rendered great shots in low-light, allowing me to even get a workable image shooting at night with the highest setting of 12800, which reminded somewhat of the film-like noise reduction capabilities of the Nikon D90 and D300.

ISO 12800

Additional Sample Images

CONCLUSIONS
The Canon Rebel T1i is both a great camera for the photographer looking to move up from compacts and advanced amateurs who want total control and excellent image quality. Most Canon Rebel generations only slightly evolve in terms of features – and mostly in subtle areas like resolution and more automatic control. The T1i has evolved much farther, making it the first Rebel with HD video. With a lot of pro and semi-pro features borrowed from the rest of Canon's line, the T1i is a good second entry into the DSLR/HD video camera hybrid category shared with the pro EOS 5D Mark II.

Not only do you get some of the trickle down technology from the mid-level 50D, you get it for less than its sticker price. Like most Canons that come off the assembly line, the T1i is great in low-light, has a respectable AF system, shoots great video and show impressive dynamic and tonal range in the images it produces. Best of all, you get the whole kit for $899. This is one of the better DSLRs I have shot with in the past few years, and by far the best Rebel yet to hit the market.

Pros:

HD video quality is excellent
Exceptional ISO performance
Accurate color and dynamic range
Great kit lens

Cons:

Slow to focus in low light
Smudge-proof screen isn't smudge proof
Massive image files out of the camera
Slow AF in video mode

www.digitalcamerareview.com

Olympus E-P1 Hands-On Video

2009-07-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

By David Rasnake and Allison Johnson

I don't put much stock in concepts. I've been following the camera industry long enough to know that what a manufacturer shows off under glass at a trade show is, more likely than not, going to live and die right there – under glass, at trade shows. A handful of notable exceptions aside, under-glass concepts – in photography, as elsewhere – rarely flow down the production pipeline to actual products with actual specs without significant functional and stylistic revisions.

Olympus's Micro Four Thirds concept

Which is why I did my best not to get sucked into the vaporware vortex swirling around Olympus's Micro Four Thirds concept launch back at Photokina last September. What Olympus showed us was a beautiful, elegant mock-up of a rangefinder-inspired camera – with no publicly aired development timeline and lots of caginess about how closely any future production version would hew to the concept's pocketable form factor and classic styling.

If I sound a little jaded on this topic, it's only because we've heard these kinds of promises before: Panasonic built similar buzz around the G1, its Micro Four Thirds platform, and while the G1 is an excellent camera in its own right, the general feeling around here has always been that it never fully took advantage of the form-factor and functional opportunities afforded by Micro Four Thirds.

But Olympus's announcement today of the production-ready version of its Micro Four Thirds concept – known officially as the E-P1, and at least semi-officially as the "Digital Pen" – looks to change all of this. For the E-P1, Olympus went back to the drawing board, or at least, back to the filing cabinet. Vintage camera nuts will immediately recognize the aesthetic influence of Olympus's classic Pen F – a half-frame 35mm camera from the middle of the last century, and one of the manufacturer's early attempts at miniaturization – in the converging body lines of the E-P1's top panel.

The original Pen series's use of a half-frame format (in which each shot is exposed on half of a standard 35mm frame) provides an interesting parallel for the Micro Four Thirds equipped E-P1. The new Pen's 12 megapixel Four Thirds sensor – the same sensor used in Olympus's current DSLRs – is smaller than the APS-C imagers found in many consumer SLRs these days, but also significantly larger than the largest typical point-and-shoot sensors.

Combine that with some impressive early buzz in noise reduction fine tuning and the ability to shoot at full res up to ISO 6400 and you have all of the makings of an interesting small camera indeed: powerful enough to take "serious" photos, flexible enough (with its interchangeable lenses) to handle a range of shooting situations, and small and accessible enough to not intimidate newbies. All in all, it sounds a lot – on the surface, at least – like the Micro Four Thirds camera we've been waiting for since the technology was first unveiled last summer.

Hands on with the E-P1
Olympus was kind enough to provide us with a pre-production of the E-P1, and while we weren't able to share results from field testing or studio shooting at this point, we were able to spend some time shooting with the E-P1 and checking out its array of features. If you want to cut to the chase, we've summarized our findings in a short hands-on preview video.

Like Panasonic's related offering, the E-P1's Micro Four Thirds technology mandates a full-time live view shooting experience. With this in mind, Olympus has carefully adapted its traditional DSLR interface to better suit a shooting environment in which shot composition is taking place solely on the LCD. Those familiar with Olympus's E-series DSLRs will find the menus and status screens largely unchanged, but a nicely laid out sidebar menu provides access to commonly adjusted parameters while leaving space shot composition – similar to the arrangement used in many point-and-shoot cameras these days.

A unique two-axis control arrangement allows shooters to navigate the sidebar – and the rest of the E-P1's menus – using the scroll wheel to move vertically within screens, and a new second scrolling control (the silver column on the camera's back panel) to move horizontally. If it sounds complex, rest assured that in use we found the arrangement intuitive, and quicker to use on the fly than your typical four-way controller (though the E-P1 comes equipped with one of those too).

As a design exercise, the E-P1 closely follows the look and feel of the rangefinder-inspired mock ups that we saw previously. A unique fold-down zoom lens provides a dense and heavy (for its size) if very compact package that rivals a larger fixed lens, small-sensor camera in form factor.

Retro touches – including a recessed mode dial, chrome finish, and a rubberized grip panel – are done tastefully in this case, and the build quality of our pre-production sample was top notch. Likewise, we found the E-P1's display to be an excellent performer in a range of shooting situations, providing a solid foundation for the rest of this full-time live view camera's performance.

More to come...
At this point, that's about as much as we can offer about the E-P1's performance. It's certainly an impressive camera in hand, and as our video preview shows, it impressed us with its straightforward operation and retro-chic appeal during our time with an early sample. Olympus is hosting a press event a little later today to officially unveil the new model, and we'll have even more in-depth reporting on what's undoubtedly one of the most important developments in the camera market – including, we hope, some sample images from a full production E-P1 – before the end of the day. Stay tuned...

www.digitalcamerareview.com

Canon PowerShot D10 Review

2009-06-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

With the introduction of the snazzy little Canon PowerShot D10, Canon finally ventures into the one arena of the digital camera wars where they haven't gone before. The new D10 is Canon's first underwater point and shoot, waterproof to 10 meters/33 feet. Canon has long offered underwater housings for their more popular cameras, but those contraptions occasionally leak, cost almost as much as the camera, and they're bulky and complicated in use.

One of the most impressive things about underwater digital cameras (which seem to be pretty popular right now) is that unlike the dedicated underwater cameras of the past, Nikon's venerable Nikonos for example, today's underwater cameras are simply tougher waterproof versions of general use compact digitals with all the bells and whistles of their above water siblings.

Canon's digital cameras are the dominant competitors in just about every point and shoot class, but they're starting from scratch here. The D10 isn't particularly compact, elegant, or stylish looking – rather it sports a kind of bulbous metallic industrial-chic look with lots of exposed screw heads. The matte silver and electric blue (I see a matte silver and hot pink model on the horizon) color scheme seemed a bit flashy to me, and one of my friends thought it looked like a slightly garish toy from Hasbro or Mattel.

BUILD AND DESIGN
The D10 features a very good 3x (35mm-105mm equivalent) zoom with optical image stabilization and Canon's fourth generation DIGIC processor coupled to a 1/2.3-inch 12.1 megapixel CCD image sensor. There's also a 30 fps VGA (640x480) movie mode and a new Smart Auto (exposure) mode.

I'm not really a water person, so my impressions of the D10 in "wet" mode will be limited. I did submerge the camera in a nearby creek and took several shots at the auto setting with absolutely no problems.

Underwater

Water and dust seals appear to be very good – after its dunking I dried the D10 off with a small cotton towel and then checked the lens housing and battery compartment for misting, condensation, or moisture – not surprisingly everything was dry as a bone. I didn't evaluate Canon's shock-proofing or freeze-proofing claims.

Ergonomics and Controls
In hand the D10 is a tiny bit awkward because of its unconventional shape, but the control layout is standard Canon – meaning everything is familiar (to anyone who has ever used a Canon digital), easily accessed, and logical. The D10's user interface is uncomplicated and straightforward with large clearly marked buttons and a simple intuitive control array.

Operation is dead simple: all exposure options are minor variations on the auto mode theme. Along the top edge of the D10's rear deck are three buttons – the Print button which is used to select images to be printed (when the camera is connected to a PictBridge compatible printer), the Mode button permits users to select Auto, Program, one of the D10's 18 Scene modes, or movie mode), and finally the Playback button – to access review mode. Canon clearly designed the D10 to be useful in a broad range of shooting environments and to be usable by just about anyone. Most purchasers will have no difficulty using the camera right out of the box.

The D10 dispenses with the chintzy "string" style wrist straps seen on most of its competitors in favor of a heavy duty lanyard style wrist strap with a sliding loop lock. The wrist strap terminates in a locking male bayonet lug which mates with one of the four (one on each corner of the camera) sockets – allowing users (finally, something for the lefties) to place the wrist strap exactly where they want it.

Menus and Modes
The PowerShot D10 features Canon's classic menu system – the best in the business. Navigation is brutally simple since the camera permits only minimal user input. Push the menu button and the "Camera" or "Setup" sub-menus appear at the top of the menu page – most functions/options can be set once and forgotten. Even video editing, which is usually complicated and unintuitive, is easy.

The D10's compass switch (four-way controller) and FUNC button provide direct menu access to the most commonly changed/adjusted features and functions like exposure compensation, WB, sensitivity, My Colors, flash, macro mode, metering, drive mode, and resolution.

Basic shooting modes on the D10 include:

Auto: Point-and-shoot mode with very limited user input
Smart Auto: automatic scene recognition mode that instantly compares what's in front of the lens with an on board image database and then matches that information with the specific scene's subject distance, white balance, contrast, dynamic range, lighting, and color (just before the image is recorded) to determine the best exposure. For example if the D10 determines that a face (or faces) is the subject – the camera automatically switches to Portrait mode.
Program: Auto exposure with user input (sensitivity, white balance, etc.)
Scene: Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater, ISO 3200, Long Shutter, Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Color Accent, Color Swap, Stitch Assist
Movie: The camera records video at a maximum of 640x480 @ 30 fps for up to 4 GB or 1 hour.

Display/Viewfinder
Like many current point and shoots, the D10 doesn't provide an optical viewfinder, relying instead on the 2.5 inch (230,000 pixel) LCD screen. Optical viewfinders are expensive and many casual shooters don't use them so it makes sense (especially with an underwater camera) to use the LCD screen for all framing/composition, review, and menu navigation chores. In many common shooting venues it is usually quicker to watch the decisive moment come together on the LCD screen than it is through the optical viewfinder. LCD screens are TTL (through the lens) and function as accurate framing tools, but for portraits and shooting in bright outdoor locales I prefer an optical viewfinder.

The D10's 2.5 inch wide viewing angle TFT LCD screen with glare coating is bright, hue accurate, relatively fluid, and automatically boosts gain in dim/low light. The LCD screen is more than sharp enough for most compositional tasks and captured image review. The user-enabled LCD grid-line display is a nice (and very useful) touch as well.

PERFORMANCE
Timing is one of the two most important considerations when assessing digital camera performance (the other is image quality). The D10 comes in about average in terms of operational speed. The D10 needs about 1 second for the boot-up cycle (camera on to the first image capture). Based on results from the test lab, the D10's shutter lag (press-to-capture, pre-focused) is 0.08 seconds, which is a bit slower than average.

Shutter Lag (press-to-capture, pre-focused)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	0.02
Nikon Coolpix S230	0.02
Pentax Optio P70	0.05
Canon PowerShot D10	0.08
Casio Exilim EX-Z150	0.22

AF Acquisition (press-to-capture, no pre-focus) is 0.36 seconds which is a bit quicker than average.

AF Acquisition (press-to-capture, no pre-focus)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	0.23
Canon PowerShot D10	0.36
Nikon Coolpix S230	0.51
Pentax Optio P70	0.87
Casio Exilim EX-Z150	1.15

The D10's continuous shooting mode (which allows users to capture several images in quick succession) is 1.2 fps – a bit better than Canon's claim of 1.1 fps. Shot to shot times averaged out to around two seconds between shots (flash off). The D10's flash recycles in about 6.5 seconds (after a full-power discharge) – a bit slower than average for cameras of this class.

Continuous Shooting

Camera	Frames*	Framerate*
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX37	3	3.6 fps
Nikon Coolpix S230	2	2.2 fps
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	10	1.6 fps
Casio Exilim EX-Z150	13	1.3 fps
Canon PowerShot D10	∞	1.2 fps

Shooting Performance
Even though the D10 doesn't look like above-water Canon cameras, under the hood it utilizes the same practical and easy-to-understand exposure system that made its siblings so popular with consumers. Exposure is automatically managed by the camera's DIGIC IV processor that combines most primary camera functions (auto exposure, image processing, and power management) in one chip to improve efficiency and processing speed.

The D10 is powered by a Canon NB-6L 3.7v 1000mAh lithium rechargeable battery pack that Canon claims is good for 220 exposures. I do a lot of shoot, review, delete, and re-shoot so I rarely keep track of exposures numbers, but this time I was able to watch the numbers. After the first full charge I shot 214 exposures before I ran out of juice. This is about what Canon claims and noticeably below average for cameras in this class. The supplied rapid charger plugs directly in the wall and fully charges the NB-6L in about 90 minutes.

The D10's built-in multi mode flash provides an acceptable selection of artificial lighting options, including Auto (fires when needed), On (fill flash), Red-Eye Reduction, Red-Eye Correction, Slow Sync, and Off. Canon claims the maximum flash range is about 10 feet, and that appears to be a fairly accurate claim based on my very limited flash use.

The D10 features the same 9-point AiAF (Advanced Intelligent Auto Focus) TTL Contrast Detection system found on its "A" series and "SD" series siblings. In all exposure modes the camera analyzes the scene in front of the lens and then calculates camera to subject distance to determine which of the 9 AF points is closest to the primary subject (closest subject priority) and then locks focus on that AF point.

The D10's Optical Image Stabilization system reduces blur by quickly and precisely shifting a lens element in the zoom to compensate for minor camera movement. Image stabilization allows users to shoot at shutter speeds up to three f-stops slower than would have been possible without IS. Image stabilization can also be very useful when shooting in dimly lit indoor venues where flash is inappropriate. The D10 provides three IS modes: Continuous (IS on full time), Shoot only (IS is only activated when the picture is taken), and Panning (only stabilizes up-and-down motion) for horizontally panned exposures.

Lens Performance
The D10 features a 6.2mm-18.6mm f/2.8-f/4.9 (35mm-105mm equivalent) 3X zoom (Nine elements in seven groups with one aspherical element). Closest focusing distance (in macro mode) is 1.2 inches/3 centimeters. Zooming is fairly quick and relatively smooth. Zoom operation is absolutely silent – since the zoom is fully enclosed in the camera's waterproof body shell.

Macro

The D10's zoom is sharp in the center and soft at the edges. Barrel distortion at the wide-angle end of the zoom range is slightly above average, but there is no perceptible pincushion distortion at the telephoto end of the zoom range.

Wide angle

Telephoto

Chromatic aberration (color fringing) at wide-angle end of the zoom above average. At telephoto end of the zoom chromatic aberration is about average.

Video Quality
The D10's 30 fps VGA (640X480) movie mode won't compete with a dedicated video camera, but it will do nicely for generating e-mail video attachments for friends and family – especially if you can get some interesting underwater video. Like most cameras, the D10 can't be zoomed while in video capture mode.

The D10's video mode doesn't record sound – obviously Canon's engineers couldn't figure out a way to allow sound to reach a microphone that wouldn't also allow water to seep into the waterproof body shell – so at least users don't have to contend with those annoying videos where the white noise and extraneous sound picked up by the built-in microphone sound like a bar fight in a wind storm.

Image Quality
The image files produced by Canon's point-and-shoots are optimized for the bold, bright, colors and balanced contrast that many shooters refer to as Canon Color – the D10 doesn't deviate much from this "family" identity. Default color is fairly accurate with most colors coming close to neutral. Reds are a little warm, blues are a bit bright, and greens are a bit too vibrant, but most casual shooters probably won't consider this a fault.

Default

Vivid

Neutral

Center sharpness is pretty good overall, but at the wide-angle end of the zoom corners are noticeably soft. At the telephoto end of the zoom corners are still soft but not as noticeably so.

Although there is a slight tendency toward overexposure, outdoors in good light the D10 generally produces well exposed almost noise-free images with hue-accurate colors and slightly harder than average contrast.

The D10's Auto white balance setting did a pretty good job across a wide range of lighting conditions including bright daylight and overcast, but shot quite warm under incandescent light in the studio. In addition to auto there are Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Underwater, and Custom WB settings.

Auto White Balance, 3200K incandescent light

ISO 80 and100 images are essentially indistinguishable – both show bright colors, slightly hard edged native contrast, and very low noise levels. ISO 200 images were also very good, but lacked some of the snap of the lower sensitivity images.

ISO 80	ISO 80, 100% crop
ISO 100	ISO 100, 100% crop
ISO 200	ISO 200, 100% crop
ISO 400	ISO 400, 100% crop
ISO 800	ISO 800, 100% crop
ISO 1600	ISO 1600, 100% crop

At the ISO 400 setting noise levels are noticeably higher and there's a perceptible loss of minor detail. ISO 800 images are noisy, but they should be OK for email, web use, or non-critical 3x5 prints. ISO 1600 images are way too noisy to be useful for anything beyond record shots, however. ISO 3200 images are better than expected – but my expectations weren't very high given the reduced resolution and detail loss at this highest capture setting. ISO 800, 1600, and 3200 images looked flat and slightly blurry with no fine detail.

Additional Sample Images

CONCLUSIONS
There really isn't much to complain about with the D10. It's cheaper than the closest competitor from Olympus, it goes a little deeper than many of the other underwater cameras in its class, and it has the toughest wrist strap ever to grace a compact digital. I've been using Canons for more than 10 years and I've only been disappointed once. That's because Canon seems to know what consumers want and they deliver cameras that are affordable, easy to use, feature rich, fairly compact, relatively quick, and capable of consistently producing excellent images.

The D10's competition will come primarily from Olympus and to a lesser degree, Pentax and Panasonic, but I believe the D10 will prove itself very well in this new arena. If consumers like the D10 and its successors Canon may eventually try for a hat trick and challenge Olympus' top-dog status in this growing niche market.

In addition to the ability to slip beneath the waves, the D10 can endure extended exposure to rain, mist, jungle-like humidity, and dusty desert venues. Not only is the D10 a super general-use camera, it is also a great outdoor adventure camera because it will take pictures in conditions where other cameras can't.

Pros:

Affordable
Waterproof
Shockproof
Dustproof

Cons:

Battery life is below average
Images are soft in the corners

Canon PowerShot SD970 Review

2009-06-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

BY: J. Keenan, DigitalCameraReview.com Contributor

The PowerShot SD970 IS becomes the twelfth Canon compact digital I've reviewed for this site, and the previous eleven have established the line as generally providing good image and color quality and overall decent performance.

The cameras seem to follow a measured but steady progression of feature upgrades and improvements as technology advances, rather than opting for a dramatic "break the mold" departure from past practices such as Casio's EX-F1 and its 60fps still shooting ability. Whether by accident or design, Canon's recipe must work as the company claims to have moved over 22 million units worldwide in the first 10 years since the ELPH nameplate reached the market in May 1996.

The SD970 IS looks to continue the trend. A gently sculpted metal body housing a 5x optical zoom with optical stabilization, 3.0 inch monitor, 12.1 megapixel sensor, 1280x720 HD video capability and Canon's current generation Digic 4 processor positions the camera with all the right stuff to compete in its class. Will the SD970 IS live up to the expectations of it created by its predecessors? Come along as we find out.

BUILD AND DESIGN
With its cigarette pack/deck of cards shape and size that is virtually a universal constant for compact digitals in the 3 to 5x zoom class, the SD970 IS at a distance could easily pass as an offering from any number of manufacturers. Closer examination shows the all-metal body is solid and appears well put together.

New users will be forgiven if at first blush it appears Canon has left off a means to attach the provided wrist strap to the body - the attachment point sits flush on the right end of the body between the HDMI and AV ports, but it's easy to overlook.

A metal tripod socket reinforces the overall impression of robust design and build.

Ergonomics and Controls
With a 3.0 inch monitor dominating the camera back, Canon still managed to locate four control buttons and the control dial back there as well, but the layout is well designed and spaced so conflicts are virtually nonexistent. The index finger of the right hand falls naturally to the shutter button in either horizontal or vertical shooting formats, and the other fingers of the right hand pose no problems to camera components.

The same can't be said for the left hand, depending on your hold. For me, the left index and middle fingers sitting atop the camera body feel more secure, and that tends to be my natural grip. On the SD970 IS the flash sits at the front upper left corner of the camera body, and I find my middle finger positions itself partially over the flash in most cases. A simple "left thumb on the bottom and index finger on top" hold fixes the problem, so if that happens to be your natural grip, no worries. Folks like me who tend to put a lot more fingers into the hold may need to get used to adjusting that a bit.

More and more compacts are coming out with controls that allow the user to start shooting video by means of a single button push from any shooting mode. The SD970 IS doesn't have that feature per se, but there's a handy work-around: the camera allows the user to "register" certain camera functions to the direct print button on the camera back that can be called up with a single push. If you only register video, you can start recording by pushing the direct print button no matter what shooting mode you're in. A second push of the direct print button or full push of the shutter button stops recording.

Menus and Modes
The SD970 IS proved straightforward in its presentation of shooting options: a three position mode switch atop the camera body allows the user to select auto, shooting or video modes.

Auto mode uses Canon's smart auto technology that "intelligently selects the proper settings for the camera based on 18 predefined shooting situations".

Shooting mode requires the user to access an internal menu to select from 19 shooting options, including program, portrait, foliage, snow, beach, sunset, fireworks, creative light effect, aquarium, ISO 3200, indoor, kids & pets, night snapshot, color accent, color swap, digital macro, long shutter, zoom blur and stitch assist.

Video allows capture of movies in HD 1280x720 (30 fps) or Standard Definition: 640x480 or 320x240, both at 30 fps. Limits are 4GB or 29 minutes 59 seconds for HD and 60 minutes for SD. As I mentioned above, you can initiate video capture via the direct print button if the video option has been registered to that button.

Shooting and setup menus can be accessed via the menu button; when in a shooting mode, pressing the function button brings up a menu of any available user-modifiable settings for that particular mode. Even for someone unfamiliar with Canon compacts, a little surfing with the menu and function buttons should make things fairly clear, even in the absence of the user's manual.

Display/Viewfinder
The 3.0 inch LCD monitor boasts a 461,000 dot composition and is adjustable for five levels of brightness, but even so, it can be difficult to use for image composition in direct sunlight. Monitor coverage is 100%. There is no viewfinder.

PERFORMANCE
Canon ad copy touts the SD970 IS as "the ultimate in design and feature-set." I'd consider that a bit more accurate if there were manual controls and a RAW shooting option, but the camera is clearly targeting an audience that wishes to minimize user involvement in the image capture process and does a credible job in that regard. The automatic shooting options leave little in the way of user inputs except in Program mode, where white balance, ISO sensitivity and some color choices are added to the image size and compression options.

Shooting Performance
While the SD970 IS lacks the manual controls some shooting purists might crave, its performance numbers should keep all but the pickiest compact digital users in a pleasant state of mind. Shutter lag comes in at about .03 seconds and press to capture with no pre focus at about .5 seconds. AF acquisition time in good light runs about .4 to .5 seconds, and there is a focus-assist lamp for dim conditions. AF time lengthened a bit at full telephoto, but was still quite good. The camera powers up and displays a focus icon in about 1.5 seconds and I was able to get off a shot in about 2 seconds after power up.

Shutter Lag (press-to-capture, pre-focused)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	0.02
Nikon Coolpix S230	0.02
Canon PowerShot SD970 IS	0.03
Pentax Optio P70	0.05
Casio Exilim EX-Z150	0.22

AF Acquisition (press-to-capture, no pre-focus)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	0.23
Canon PowerShot SD970 IS	0.47
Nikon Coolpix S230	0.51
Pentax Optio P70	0.87
Casio Exilim EX-Z150	1.15

Continuous Shooting

Camera	Frames*	Framerate*
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX37	3	3.6 fps
Nikon Coolpix S230	2	2.2 fps
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	10	1.6 fps
Casio Exilim EX-Z150	13	1.3 fps
Canon PowerShot SD970 IS	∞	1.1 fps

Single shot-to-shot times ran about 2 seconds (with a SanDisk Extreme III 20MB/sec. card) and continuous shooting right at 1 fps at full resolution. The camera held steady at this rate through 21 captures, at which point I terminated the exercise. Focus and exposure settings are established for the first shot of the sequence and applied to all subsequent captures until the shutter button is released.

Canon reports battery life as approximately 270 shots, and my experience seemed to correspond fairly closely. The camera uses a rechargeable Li-ion battery, so carrying a spare or two is prudent on all-day shoots since you can't just drop in AAs and carry on.

Flash range is listed at 11 feet at wide angle and 6 feet at telephoto, and the flash seemed to make those figures even at 100 ISO in normally lit conditions. Flash recycle times with fresh batteries could run up to about 4 seconds with partial discharges - often the camera was ready to go as soon as writing was completed and the shooting icon came back on screen- and as long as 10 seconds with full discharges. The camera will not allow you to capture another image with the flash enabled until it fully recharges. Flash exposure and color fidelity were good across a range of distance from the subjects. Here are four examples:

Lens Performance
The SD970 IS zoom lens covers a 35mm equivalent focal range from 37 to 185mm. This is a bit longer at both the wide and telephoto ends of the lens than many competitors, and here's what that range looks like:

Telephoto

Wide angle

Maximum apertures for the lens are a bit disappointing - a somewhat slow f/3.2 at wide angle and f/5.7 at telephoto. The lens shows softening in the corners at wide angle, but edges are pretty good; telephoto is pretty good across the board. There is some barrel distortion (straight lines bow out from center of image) at wide angle and a bit of pin cushion (straight lines bend in toward center of image) at telephoto.

Barrel Distortion, Wide Angle

Pin Cushion Distortion, Telephoto

Chromatic aberration (purple fringing) may be present in high contrast boundary areas, but the effect is relatively muted. Focus range for macro purposes ranges from .8 inch to 1.6 feet at wide angle.

The SD970 IS lens turned in a very good performance overall.

Video Quality
The HD video produced by the SD970 IS was quite good for a non-dedicated video camera, particularly since I was able to directly compare with another digital with 720p capability. The camera cannot be zoomed while capturing video (actually, it will zoom but focus doesn't follow) as the first video demonstrates.

The camera microphone was also overpowered by the ocean breeze, but does a pretty good job in still conditions. In the second video you can hear birds in the background and a duck quacking as it flies over at the end of the clip. There is an HDMI terminal that permits the user to display video directly on a HD TV.

Image Quality
I was very happy with the stills produced by the SD970 IS. Image and color quality at default settings were accurate and pleasing, and sharpness seemed about right for my taste. Good thing, as there are no in-camera or menu sharpening options available.

There are vivid and neutral color options in the "my colors" palette along with a host of other settings.

Vivid

Neutral

The camera sets "auto" intelligent contrast correction (IC) as a default, but there are high, medium and low settings available for post processing images in the camera. Here is a dusk shot of an Anna's hummingbird taken with "auto IC" and flash, and the same image post processed at the high IC setting.

Auto IC

High IC

The camera also has a 20x digital zoom and 1.5 and 2.0 digital tele converters. Here's what the 5x optical shot looks like compared with the TCs and the 20x digital.

5x optical zoom

1.5 Tele Converter

2.0 Tele Converter

20x Digital Zoom

Auto white balance did a pretty good job across a range of lighting conditions including flash, daylight and overcast, but shot quite warm under incandescent light in the studio. In addition to auto there are daylight, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, fluorescent H and custom WB settings.

Auto White Balance

Exposure was generally good with the evaluative metering method (the default setting), but the camera could and did lose highlights on some contrasty scenes on occasion. In this regard the performance was pretty much typical for cameras of this class.

The SD970 IS doesn't break the mold in the ISO noise arena, but it might be a hair better than many of the others in the class as ISO levels climb past 400. ISO 80 and 100 crop shots are quite good and hard to tell apart, with 200 just a tiny bit worse than the first two.

ISO 400 shows some increased deterioration over 200, but not much, and 800 seems to drop off less compared to 400 than we usually see. ISO 1600 displays a more dramatic downturn as a crop but looking at the whole images at small size doesn't look too bad, which allows good flexibility for ISO settings if your needs are limited to small prints or e-mail. The 3200 ISO shooting mode option produces a 2 megapixel file that is best suited for postcards or e-mail only.

ISO 80	ISO 80, 100% Crop
ISO 100	ISO 100, 100% Crop
ISO 200	ISO 200, 100% Crop
ISO 400	ISO 400, 100% Crop
ISO 800	ISO 800, 100% Crop
ISO 1600	ISO 1600, 100% Crop

Additional Sample Images

CONCLUSIONS
Canon announced the SD970 IS and nine other compact digitals this past February, and if our review model is any indicator of the quality and performance of the others, Canon's got a batch of winners on their hands. The SD970 IS would seem to appeal to folks primarily interested in capturing images without too much effort on their part, as the lack of manual exposure controls leaves user inputs rather limited, but shutter and AF performance are good and image quality and color fidelity are first rate. It's not too big a stretch to believe that good performance and image quality may trump the desire for manual controls (or a RAW shooting option) in the minds of many more "hands-on" types looking for a camera in this class.

There's not much to dislike with the SD970 IS. The 37mm wide angle isn't all that wide, so users will have to get further away from large subjects to get them all in the frame. On the other hand, the 5x zoom translates that 37mm into 185mm at the telephoto end, which helps get you a bit closer to distant subjects than most others in the class. And, as Canon is quick to point out in their ad copy, that 12.1 megapixel sensor offers "amazing resolution and editing" possibilities that effectively make that 185mm shoot even longer than it is.

OK, some folks may cover the flash with their finger(s) until they get a feel for the camera, and full discharge flashes can seem like they take forever to recharge as the timer ticks closer to 10 seconds. The microphone in video mode doesn't handle wind very well and you'll swear that 5 to 7 knot breeze is really more like Category 5, but think of the dubbing possibilities that open up.

Bottom line: this is an excellent camera overall and one that would be on my short list were I in the market for something of this class.

Pros

Very good still image and color quality
Very good HD (720p) video quality
Good shutter lag and AF acquisition times
Good battery life

Cons

Flash easy to cover with finger(s) while shooting
Full discharge flash recycle times approach 10 seconds

Kodak EasyShare Z980 Review

2009-06-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

Back in the late '60s I carried a Kodak Instamatic camera with me to drag races at tracks across southern California, snapping photos of cars and drivers in the pits. In 1975 I graduated to a Nikon F2, with Kodak remaining almost exclusively my film of choice. I haven't shot a roll of film in eight or nine years, but another Kodak camera has found its way into my hands, if only for review purposes.

The Kodak EasyShare Z980 is Kodak's current big gun in the ultrazoom compact digital class, boasting a 24x optical zoom and 12 megapixel sensor. Kodak is quick to point out that the 12 megapixel sensor of the Z980 means "you can crop and enlarge and still have great picture quality". Here's an original shot and then the same shot cropped to 12 x 8 inch size – the cropped shot still maintains 220 pixels per inch, which is enough to provide a pretty decent print.

Original

Cropped

There's also the ability to make 720p HD video, full manual controls in addition to the obligatory automatic and scene settings, ISO sensitivity ranging to 1600 at full resolution (and 6400 at 3.1MB), plus a RAW file shooting option. Kodak's come a long ways from my old Instamatic; let's see just how far.

BUILD AND DESIGN
The Z980 is carved out of the current mold for ultrazooms, resembling a slightly scaled-down DSLR in feel, if not weight. This is the largest ultrazoom dimensionally that I've tested, and it compares rather closely size-wise to the Olympus E-420 DSLR.

The body exterior is composite, and while the camera appears well-built, there is a shiny black plastic panel that wraps around one side of the camera, surrounds the monitor and literally screams "fragile looking". I would think Kodak knows what they're doing with this piece functionally, but the shiny plastic conveys a toy-like impression from an otherwise business-like instrument.

Ergonomics and Controls
The Z980 features a deeply sculpted handgrip on the camera body, and there is good room for the fingers between the grip and the lens barrel. The rubberized material in the grip area is a cut above most other ultrazooms I've tested, providing a bit firmer hold than most others.

The right index finger falls naturally onto the shutter button and the thumb to the thumb rest area on the camera back without conflict with controls. While the camera back and top are adorned with buttons, there is adequate spacing to minimize accidental activations.

While I'm not a video guy, I have gotten spoiled reviewing cameras that allow you to start shooting video with the press of a single button. Unfortunately, the Z980 isn't one of these – you have to select the video setting via the mode dial and then do a full press on the shutter to capture movies.

The Z980 provides shutter buttons on the top and right side of the camera body, with the latter simplifying shooting in the vertical (portrait) format. You have to select which button is active via a switch on the top of the body, and Kodak has thoughtfully provided an easily attached vertical grip to promote a more secure hold when shooting verticals.

The vertical grip is light and performs no other function, but it also improves the horizontal grip, allowing my little finger to grip the front of the camera rather than curl up under the body. The grip adds about an inch to the height of the camera, but unless you need to keep the Z980's dimensions in check, I'd install the grip and leave it on.

Make sure you attach the lens cap to the camera via the provided cord or the first time you forget to remove the cap and power up the camera with it in place, the extending lens will launch the cap into space.

Menus and Modes
This being my first review of a Kodak product, the menu system wasn't at all familiar but a fair amount of settings were located intuitively. Kodak provides a bare-bones user's guide with the Z980, running only some 25 pages and dealing with only the simplest of functions.

Of course, they do provide Spanish, French, and Portuguese versions to ponder while looking unsuccessfully for the information on how to change the camera's ISO setting. Hint: it isn't in the user's manual – you have to go to the online extended user's manual for that. Personally, I'd like to see Kodak flesh out the printed manual with info for the folks who aren't going to merely set the camera on auto and fire away.

"Smart Capture" is the Z980's auto setting, and it incorporates "intelligent scene detection" to analyze scene conditions; "intelligent scene capture" to set focus, exposure and ISO; and "intelligent image processing" to reduce noise and clear up shadows. For those of us who think we might know better than the camera, there are the typical manual controls found on DSLRs and more advanced compacts: program auto, aperture and shutter priority, and fully manual exposure options.

Smart Capture, the manual controls, portrait, sport, panorama (stitch-assist), and video shooting modes are selected via the mode dial atop the camera body; there is also a scene mode accessed on the dial that offers the user 16 additional shooting options via internal menu: children, backlight, high ISO, beach, snow, sunset, self portrait, night portrait, candlelight, night landscape, landscape, museum, stage, fireworks, flower, and text.

In addition to the icon for each individual mode in the scene menu, the Z980 also presents a brief explanation of each option as you select it.

Display/Viewfinder
The Z980 boasts a 3.0 inch LCD monitor with 201,000 dot composition and five levels of brightness adjustment.

Even with that range of adjustment, the monitor can be difficult to use for image composition in bright sunlight, although the size helps some. Thankfully, there is also a viewfinder for those difficult lightning conditions, but there is no diopter for eyesight adjustment.

The viewfinder offers good eye relief and I had no trouble using my reading glasses with it, although that's not my favorite way to shoot. The alternative is to gaze through the blurry viewfinder until the green focus icon appears along with a "beep" to let you know the camera says the focus is a go. Kodak doesn't specify in the user's manual or online, but monitor and viewfinder appear to offer around 95% coverage – they're both fairly accurate in depicting what the final image will contain.

PERFORMANCE
It's no secret ultrazooms are my favorite point-and-shoots, offering the user a wide range of lens focal lengths in an amazingly small package. Throw in a good shutter response, decent AF acquisition time and image quality and you've got a versatile tool that can shoot everything from wide angle scenes or close ups of really big subjects to bringing distant objects much closer. The Z980 has that lens focal range in spades – let's see how the rest of the parameters measure up.

Shooting Performance
The Z980 didn't disappoint in the shutter lag arena, coming up with a 0.02 second press to capture time. This time seems to lengthen a tiny bit with flash enabled, but it's still quite good. AF acquisition time at wide angle in good light is a fairly quick 0.6 seconds and stays that way as the lens zooms a good way toward the telephoto end.

Shutter Lag (press-to-capture, pre-focused)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Casio Exilim EX-FH20	0.02
Kodak EasyShare Z980	0.02
Olympus SP-565 UZ	0.03
Canon PowerShot SX200 IS	0.03
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3	0.05

AF Acquisition (press-to-capture, no pre-focus)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Canon PowerShot SX200 IS	0.48
Casio Exilim EX-FH20	0.59
Kodak EasyShare Z980	0.61
Olympus SP-565 UZ	0.62
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3	0.68

Continuous Shooting

Camera	Frames*	Framerate*
Casio Exilim EX-FH20	40	30 fps†
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3	3	2.5 fps
Kodak EasyShare Z980	4	1.3 fps
Olympus SP-565 UZ	4	1.2 fps
Canon PowerShot SX200 IS	∞	0.9 fps

† Note: The Casio Exilim FH20 has no continuous shooting capabilities at full resolution (9 megapixels). It is, however, capable of shooting at 30 fps at a slightly reduced 8 megapixels. Given this relatively high resolution, we have included the FH20's continuous shooting numbers in our comparison.

AF performance at full telephoto is better in the auto modes where the camera determines the focus point – using the center point AF to try and precisely establish a focus point with the manual shooting modes could at times be frustrating with regard to the time it took to acquire focus. Even so, the AF acquisition times overall seem to fall within the norm for most cameras in this class. There is a focus-assist lamp to help with AF in dim conditions. Press to capture time with no pre-focus runs about 0.6 seconds.

The shutter button on the Z980 took a little getting used to – there is not much resistance at the half-push point, and when I first shot the camera there was more than one occasion where I pushed right past half and took a shot before the AF had time to work. Once you get a feel for the shutter there is no concern with its operation.

While shutter lag and focus acquisition times are good, the Z980 doesn't power up as quickly as the best in the class – it takes almost 2 seconds for an image to appear on either the monitor or viewfinder, and about 2.75 seconds to get off the first shot after powering up. Kodak claims a shot-to-shot time of about 1.5 seconds and I came pretty close to that figure. I also managed 5 shots in 4 seconds in continuous shooting mode at full resolution (Kodak claims 1 fps, and we saw slightly better numbers than that in our lab tests) and 9 in 1.5 seconds in high speed mode at 3.1 megapixel file size (Kodak claims 5 fps).

Flash range on the Z980 was good, going out some twenty feet at wide angle and ISO 400, and there is a hot shoe to permit the addition of a more powerful external flash if the user so desires. Flash recycle times in normally lit conditions and shorter ranges not requiring a full discharge ran about 3.5 seconds with new batteries. Full discharges with new batteries took over 9 seconds to recycle, but unlike many cameras, the Z980 will allow you to shoot again with flash enabled before the flash is fully charged – the flash simply doesn't fire in such cases. Color quality and exposure was good with the flash. Here are shots of Bobby and Charlie caught with flash.

Kodak claims a 400 shot battery life with its provided 2100mAh Ni-MH AA batteries, but I fell short of that figure (perhaps from burning so much time hunting through menus on the monitor because the user guide is so limited). I'd recommend at least one extra set of batteries for an all day shoot (more if you make extensive use of flash or monitor), but at least if you do run out of power AAs are relatively easy to come by.

Lens Performance
The Z980 features a Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 24x zoom lens spanning the 26-624mm (equivalent) focal length range. Ever heard of Schneider-Kreuznach? Me neither, but the Schneider name may be familiar to those with an interest in high-end and vintage optics, especially. Turns out the company was founded in 1913 and has a history of partnering with Kodak on projects. Here's what those focal lengths take in:

26mm Wide Angle

624mm Telephoto

Aside from the already mentioned focal length range, the lens on the Z980 offers maximum apertures of f/2.8 at wide angle and f/5 at telephoto, giving it fast to pretty decent speed across the board. There is some barrel distortion (straight lines bow out from center of image) at the wide end and a bit of pin cushion (straight lines bow in toward center of image) at telephoto. Edges and corners are a bit soft and there can be some chromatic aberration (purple fringing) in high contrast boundary areas.

Wide angle barrel distortion

Telephoto pincushion distortion

Overall the lens doesn't do too badly, and when it's good it's very good. But on occasion it did throw me a curve that I can't explain. Here are two shots of Tigr II – the first somewhat backlit and the second in the same spot but with flash enabled. There's a whole bunch of purple in the first, while the second looks good.

And then here's a couple of other good ones:

The purple colors in the shot sort of resemble fringing, although that typically is seen along edges in high contrast areas, so whatever caused this may not be the fault of the lens. I got a similar result in a shot of a tree with blue sky in the background – a large purple blotch on a limb (but relatively subdued fringing elsewhere).

Suffice it to say the effect was limited to about six shots out of over 500 and doesn't appear to be a major concern, but how it was produced remains a puzzle to me. The one common thread seems to be a brighter background and/or significant light coming from behind the subject.

Kodak identifies the stabilization for the Z980 as "optical", which traditionally means the shifting of lens elements. Stabilization is on by default but may be disabled via internal menu.

Video Quality
The Z980 can capture video at 1280x720, 640x480 or 320x240 modes, all at 30 fps. Quality at 720p is OK, but not what I'd call great, as is the audio. The camera can shoot up to 29 minutes of continuous 720p video (memory card permitting), or 80 minutes at the lower resolution modes with sufficient memory. The long lens of the Z980 makes it tempting to bring distant objects in close, but hand holding the camera steady at the telephoto end is no easy task for either video or stills and a tripod or some other form of support or bracing for the camera is a good idea if you plan to be at the telephoto end of the spectrum a lot.

Image Quality
In general, the Z980 produced nice quality images with accurate and pleasing color at the default settings. There are low, natural and high color settings (also sepia and B&W) available in the manual shooting modes, as well as low, normal and high contrast. Normal is the default in each case. There are also soft, normal and sharp sharpness settings, with normal once again the default.

High Color

Low Color

Auto white balance is the default and did a pretty good job of color rendition, even with tungsten lighting, which was a bit warm but closer to accurate color than many other cameras. There are tungsten, daylight, fluorescent and open shade settings as well.

Auto White Balance, 3200K incandescent light

Exposure was generally pretty good with the default multi pattern metering, but there are center-weighted and spot options on tap should you feel the need. Multi pattern would lose some highlights on occasion when dealing with somewhat contrasty scenes, but was fairly typical for cameras of this class.

Noise performance was not the Z980's strongest point. Cropped images looked pretty good and quite similar at ISO 64 and 100, but the image quality falloff between 100 and 200 was more significant than we're used to.

ISO 64	ISO 64, 100% Crop
ISO 100	ISO 100, 100% Crop
ISO 200	ISO 200, 100% Crop
ISO 400	ISO 400, 100% Crop
ISO 800	ISO 800, 100% Crop
ISO 1600	ISO 1600, 100% Crop

There's a noticeable difference in the crops between 200 and 400, and 800 shows a dramatic deterioration over 400. ISO 1600 is predictably worse than 800 by a good margin, and the 3200 and 6400 3.1 megapixel low res options (which we didn't shoot in the studio) are best saved for settings of last resort if image quality is a concern. As is typically the case, the full frame shots viewed at small size don't look too bad across the entire range.

The somewhat narrow band of ISO sensitivities that produce the best quality images is one reason to shoot the manual modes where ISO can be user established. In the auto modes the camera will set an ISO sensitivity between 64 and 1600 depending on a number of factors, while for best quality we really need to shoot the Z980 at ISO 64 or 100- if our final output is to be prints of any significant size. Manual settings or flash enabled (to help hold down the ISO) is the best way to go for consistent results with this camera.

Additional Sample Images

CONCLUSIONS
It's been decades since I've shot a Kodak camera, but with the feature-rich Z980 Kodak has produced a viable contender in the ultrazoom compact digital class. Image quality and color fidelity are generally good, and shutter lag is first-rate. AF acquisition times are good at wide angle, and competitive with others in the field at the telephoto end. There's HD video to be had, full manual controls to accompany the usual automatic shooting modes, and a RAW capability that most direct competitors lack. The horizontal and vertical shutter buttons are a nice touch.

Noise performance doesn't quite keep up with the competition starting at ISO 200, somewhat limiting the camera's "sweet spot" with regard to the best quality ISO range. Battery life is relatively short, particularly with pronounced flash and/or monitor use, and flash recycle times with near or full discharges can approach ten seconds. AF acquisition can be somewhat petulant at full telephoto, although probably within class norms. As the largest ultrazoom I've tested, the Z980 approaches small DSLRs in size, particularly with the vertical grip installed.

My old Instamatic is long gone, but it's clear Kodak hasn't been sitting on their laurels – the Z980 may not be a perfect camera, but it's certainly worthy of a good look from anyone considering an ultrazoom as their first or next digital.

Pros:

Good image and color quality
Good shutter response
720p HD video
Manual controls
RAW

Cons:

ISO noise performance
Size
Battery life

BY: J. Keenan
Related links :

Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Review

2009-06-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

The Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS is an affordable answer to a need for a lightweight, responsive camera that is easy for the amateur to use, but has enough features for the more knowledgeable photographer to get a precise shot.

This digital ELPH camera comes in a variety of colors for the fashion-savvy, and has plenty of options available for the serious shutterbug. While it is a relatively simple camera when compared to a DSLR, the unit is well-equipped to handle everyday shots.

FEATURES OVERVIEW
This camera comes with a number of features that make it easy to use. With Canon's newer DIGIC 4 processor and 10.0 megapixels, it is well-equipped to take on any casual photographic occasion. Focally, the camera has a 3x optical, 4x digital, 12x combined zoom, which gives the photographer anywhere from 35 to 105mm zoom.

This is not much zoom power, but is plenty for the amateur photographer. The camera also features a sizable 2.5 inch 16:9 widescreen LCD screen, making it easy to view shots and show them off to others. The SD1200 still has an optical viewfinder.

The SD1200 has a feature called Smart AUTO, which intelligently chooses the camera shot settings based on a list of 18 predefined shooting situations. This feature allows the beginner photographer to get a good shot without having to change settings based on the situation. I tested this feature out and it is responsive, but it often took some time to recalibrate based on what the sensor found.

Some of the features of the SD1200 include:

DIGIC 4 processor: The DIGIC 4 processor offers the ability to recognize faces and compensate for lighting and focus based on the positions of the faces in the photo. I tested this feature as well and found that in high light situations it was easy for the sensor to pick up faces. However, in situations where the faces were at an angle or in lower lighting, it was more difficult for the sensor to determine facial features. The faces did not have to be still, however, as the camera picked up moving subjects well.
Shooting modes: The SD1200 has 18 preset shooting modes including P or Program mode, which allows a more advanced photographer to set ISO speed, white balance, and metering. Two interesting modes are the Aquarium setting, which allows photos of underwater life with no glare off of aquarium glass, and Underwater, which takes photos underwater with a low backscatter (with the proper waterproof case). Other modes include Digital Macro, which allows for close-up shooting, Long Shutter for artistic blur, and Kids & Pets for speedy focusing and fast shooting.
Movie Mode: The SD1200 can take VGA movies at 640 x 480 and QVGA at 320 x 240 resolution. These videos can be replayed on a computer, or the camera can be hooked up to a television for replay. The camera can take a limit of one hour or 4GB worth of video.
Face Detection Self-Timer: When in self-timer mode, the camera will continue to pick up extra faces in the shot so that the photographer can add him or herself to the frame. The shot will not be taken until the camera detects the extra face.
I-Contrast: The Intelligent Contrast Correction system (i-Contrast) will automatically lighten dark areas within the shot without over-brightening the light areas. This is a good setting when the main subject of the photo is dark. i-Contrast can be applied either while the photo is being taken, or in playback mode after the shot is finished.

FORM, FIT, AND FEEL
Smaller than a pack of playing cards, the SD1200 is easy to fit in a pocket. It actually rivals the size of most flip cell phones at 3.48 x 2.16 x 0.86 inches, and at 4.23 ounces. The camera is available in a number of fruity colors including pink, orange, green, blue, light and dark gray, making it fit any number of lifestyles and color preferences.

Ergonomics and Interface
The camera is set up simply, with buttons that are flush with the casing and easy-to-use controls. The on/off button is on top of the camera as well as the trigger button, which has a toggle for zoom.

There is a switch on the right hand side of the camera that controls if the camera is on Auto mode, mode picker, or movie mode.

In Auto mode, none of the specifications can be set except for resolution. Mode picker allows the photographer to set which of the modes the camera will be used in. However, it is difficult to find all 18 modes. It took me three days to finally notice that you have to press the Disp button when on the very last mode in mode picker in order to get the full list of the 18. Otherwise, only a few modes are shown. This is not good interface planning as it is not easy to find what I need, and it is not intuitive for the user.

There are three other buttons and a navigation circle on the back of the camera next to the LCD screen. One of the buttons is to toggle playback mode, one is to set the display, and one brings up the main menu. The navigation circle has a button in the center that serves not only as a de facto "OK" button, but also as a Function Set button which brings up the main modes and features available to the photographer.

The circle is a four-way directional button, with the top toggling exposure when in camera mode and photo rotation in playback mode. The right-hand directional serves as the flash toggle button. The bottom directional sets the self timer and is the trash button for playback mode. The left-hand directional sets macro, normal, or infinity settings for the photograph. The circle also serves as a compass, with each directional performing scrolling actions onscreen.

Display/Viewfinder
The SD1200 does have a nearly useless linked optical viewfinder, which was stuck on top of the camera, sacrificing more LCD space. The LCD is large at 2.5 inches, but could have been larger as it appears some space was wasted on the back of the camera. Linked optical viewfinders are just about obsolete these days as everyone uses the handier LCD screen for framing shots. Unfortunately, no one seems to have notified Canon of this phenomenon, and they have, in this photographer's opinion, wasted precious space on the back of the camera for this feature.

The LCD screen has a 16:9 widescreen viewing angle, which is impressive. It also has the PureColor LCD II coating on the screen, which supposedly keeps scratches and smudges from happening. However, as I write this I look over at the dusty, fingerprinted screen of the camera and know that this is not necessarily true. It cleans easily, though, and has clear, good color for image playback. You can zoom in on photos during image playback by using the zoom toggle, and the LCD screen displays zoomed in areas as crisply as a computer would.

PERFORMANCE

Timings and Shutter Lag

The PowerShot SD1200 is pretty middle-of-the-road when it comes to shutter lag. Still, only .01 seconds behind the next highest competitor is nothing to sneeze at.

Shutter Lag (press-to-capture, pre-focused)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	0.02
Nikon Coolpix S230	0.02
Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS	0.03
Pentax Optio P70	0.05
Casio Exilim EX-Z150	0.22

AF Acquisition (press-to-capture, no pre-focus)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	0.23
Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS	0.34
Nikon Coolpix S230	0.51
Pentax Optio P70	0.87
Casio Exilim EX-Z150	1.15

Continuous Shooting

Camera	Frames*	Framerate*
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX37	3	3.6 fps
Nikon Coolpix S230	2	2.2 fps
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	10	1.6 fps
Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS	∞	1.5 fps
Casio Exilim EX-Z150	13	1.3 fps

My field tests showed about the same timing. In auto focus, the SD1200 is fast, coming in behind the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T700 at 0.34 seconds. This number means that it takes very little time for the camera to auto focus, with a combined 0.37 seconds between the time the button is hit and the picture is taken. In continuous shooting mode, the SD1200 is somewhat slower with a frame rate of 1.5 frames per second. However, it still performs well and I like that the camera takes an infinite amount of photos, allowing me to get that perfect motion shot without being constrained to a number.

Auto Focus
The SD1200 has two auto focus modes: center and Face AiAF. Face AiAF mode is connected to the Face Detection technology, meaning that the camera looks all over the frame for faces and then focuses based on what it finds. Center will focus only on the center of the shot.

This camera has Canon's newer AiAF technology, which allows the camera to detect faces while setting the white balance, exposure, and focus of the shot. I like how this technology works, although sometimes the camera had difficulties finding faces that were not straight on.

I found the camera to be very fast in finding its focus. It did not have to do a lot of maneuvering to find focus for a shot, and as the timing tests show, it has a very fast rate of focus. I was pleased with how the camera performed in a number of different settings, including night shots.

Lens and Zoom
The SD1200 has an optical zoom of 3x, but the digital zoom of 4x gives the camera a combined 12x zoom. This zoom gives you a focal length of 6.2-18.6mm f/2.8-4.9, which is 35-105mm in 35mm film equivalent. This number is not too shabby and means that the camera can get anywhere from wide angle to short telephoto lens coverage. The aperture range is well-balanced for this camera, with the 4.9 maximum being about the limit of the short telephoto lens range.

The zoom of the camera is quiet and speedy, and the lens does not make the unit unwieldy even when it is in motion. A neat feature of the camera is that the lens retracts into the body when I am reviewing photos, which kept me from accidentally touching the lens while I was handling the camera. The only problem I found with this feature is the camera turns itself off when you are finished looking at photos, and I had to turn it back on again in order to get my lens back!

Flash
The unit comes with a built-in flash. It has four flash modes: auto, on, slow synchro, and off. Auto will choose whether to use the flash or not, on means that the flash is always on, slow synchro gives the photo a fill flash that works well for dark situations, and off means that the flash does not fire when a photo is taken.

The flash has a stated range of 14 feet at a wide angle setting, and 7.9 feet when telephoto. This is pretty standard for most ELPHs, and the flash works well although it is not an outstanding feature of the camera. There is a high-power flash unit available for purchase that goes with the unit if more flash power is needed.

Image Stabilization
This camera has an internal image stabilization system that gets rid of the "shaky hand syndrome" that many photographers have, including yours truly. Image stabilization works by means of a small component within the lens of the camera. This component recognizes movement on horizontal or vertical planes, and moves the lens to compensate.

There are four Image Stabilization modes that can be chosen from, including continuous, shoot only, panning, and off. Continuous means that the camera is always running the IS feature, even when just framing the shot. This option is somewhat draining to the battery, so I suggest only using it sparingly. Panning is used for horizontally moving subjects, so that the IS lens moves to correct shake on a horizontal plane. Shoot Only only activates the IS when the shutter is half-depressed, which is probably the best setting to have for normal shots.

Battery
The SD1200 uses a 3.7 volt 1000 mAh Lithium-Ion battery. This battery is rated for 260 shots with the LCD on and 700 with it off. I found that the battery lasted about the amount that it is reported to last, although I did not test it with the LCD turned off, as I find no use in the viewfinder.

IMAGE QUALITY
The SD1200 packs 10.3 megapixels onto a 1/2.3 inch CCD sensor, giving the photographer approximately 10.0 megapixels to work with. This should be plenty of pixels for any point-and-shoot photographer to work with, and allows for a sizeable image to be printed with no problem. However, the problem with shoving too many megapixels onto such a small space is that it gets grainy and noisy at the pixel level. However, this camera has fewer megapixels than many on the market today, thus giving the photos a comparatively clearer shot than cameras that pack more megapixels onto a small CCD.

Default

This camera has quite a few settings for colors under the My Colors menu, but there aren't a lot of highly useful options. Vivid brings out some colors, mostly on the yellow range. This setting saturates colors and makes them pop, but in order to have a more natural range of colors I would use the Neutral setting.

Vivid

Neutral

The other three options in My Colors are Sepia, Black and White, and Custom. Custom allows you to set the contrast, sharpness, and saturation of the image, while sepia and black and white are pretty self-explanatory.

There are three settings for light metering: evaluative, center weighted average, and spot. Evaluative takes light metering information from the current shooting situation and applies it to the image. Center weighted average takes information from the very center of the shot and applies it across the whole image, and spot only measures light metering at the very center of the image.

As far as contrast, the SD1200 has a feature called i-Contrast that automatically corrects dark areas within a photo. I found that this feature works pretty well, although I cannot find a setting to turn the function off.

White Balance
The SD1200 has multiple white balance settings that work well. A neat feature of this camera is that it has custom evaluative white balance. I frame my shot and press Disp. while in White Balance picker mode and the camera will evaluate and set the white balance based on its own internal algorithms.

Auto White Balance, 3200K incandescent light

Lens Faults
This camera did an admirable job of keeping images sharp even when the lens was fully extended to its 12x zoom. However, it did not always take a perfectly clear image, with the magnified image having a lot of graininess and noise, but the image itself was sharp enough.

Sensitivity and Noise
This camera allows the user to choose an ISO setting, which sets the camera's sensitivity to light. The available settings are auto, anywhere from 80-1600, and an ISO 3200 setting located in the mode picker menu.

ISO 80	ISO 80, 100% crop
ISO 100	ISO 100, 100% crop
ISO 200	ISO 200, 100% crop
ISO 400	ISO 400, 100% crop
ISO 800	ISO 800, 100% crop
ISO 1600	ISO 1600, 100% crop

As shown in the sample photos, the camera performs well at 80, 100, and 200, but past that the shot begins to introduce some serious noise. By the time 1600 and 3200 are used, the shots are very grainy. This graininess is to be expected with ISO, and this camera actually performs well for its class. The ISO 3200 setting did a very good job of capturing light in darker situations, although the graininess is a problem.

Additional Sample Images

Taken at full 12x zoom on Smart Auto. Note how the shot is somewhat grainy, but that the image is still sharp.

Night shot using Night setting

Program setting with all defaults using Continuous shot mode. Note the clear image even though subject is in motion.

Kids and Pets setting

Smart Auto setting at night

CONCLUSIONS
At a price of $230, this camera is definitely worth considering for all of the features it comes with. It is a reasonably priced point-and-shoot that gives the photographer plenty of options.

With a 12x combined zoom, Smart Auto mode, 10.0 megapixels and a sleek, small body, this camera packs much of the versatility of a larger camera into a phone-sized unit. It has its pros and cons, but on the whole I would endorse the purchase of this camera for the casual or beginning photographer.

Pros:

Small and sleek
Many color options
Great Autofocus performance
Good megapixel-to-CCD range
ISO settings perform well

Cons:

Still has an optical viewfinder, sacrificing space
Mode picking is hard to find within interface
LCD screen does not repel scratches and smudges as advertised
Magnified images show graininess and noise

Casio Exilim EX-FS10 Review

2009-06-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

The Casio EXILIM EX-FS10 comes on the heels of the groundbreaking EX-F1, which records up to 1,200 fps slow-motion video and 60 fps burst mode stills at 6 megapixels. The EX-FS10 is different in terms of its smaller size and price point ($350 compared to the $999 price tag of the EX-F1). Still, the EX-FS10 is a new family member of this revolutionary high-speed imaging technology introduced with the EX-F1 a few years ago. The FS10 provides the photographer with a 9.1 megapixel CMOS sensor, 30 fps stills captured at 6 megapixels, high speed movies at 1,000 fps for extreme slow-motion clips, and HD movie at 1280x720 resolution.

Casio has found a niche in the market with no competition; nothing can even touch the frame rates of their High Speed EXILIM family (the fastest DSLRs include the Canon EOS-1D Mark III with 10 fps, and the Nikon D3 at 9 fps). However, making that comparison is like comparing apples and oranges. These two DSLRs are pro models that aren't meant to be combo slow-motion video cameras with burst modes like the EX-FS10 or EX-F1, and they also have much larger sensors than these two cameras.

With that clarification being drawn, the EX-FS10 is a compact with some serious features in a camera body no bigger than a pack of playing cards. The EX-FS10 was announced along with its older brother, the slightly higher-class EX-FC100. The FC100 is differentiated by a 5x optical zoom and a CMOS anti-shake stabilization system that moves the sensor to compensate for shake, two features that the EX-FS10 lacks.

FEATURES OVERVIEW
The Casio EX-FS10 comes equipped with a 1/2.3 inch high-speed 9.1 megapixel CMOS sensor, 3X optical zoom, 2.5 inch high-performance Super Clear LCD, HD movie capture, 30 fps burst mode, and up to 1,000 fps video for ultra slow-motion capture.

Here's a list of some its most notable features:

High Speed Still Capture: The EX-FS10 shoots a burst mode of up to 30 frames per second, but also has different capture rates of 15, 10, 5, 3 or auto. Also, you can set the amount of shots you want to capture in these burst modes, including 30, 20, 10 or 5 total frames at 6 megapixels each. Another unique function is the Prerecord CS that lets you shoot 25 images before you fully press the shutter so you never miss a shot.
High Speed Movies: The real strength of the EX-FS10 is it ability to capture high-speed movies. The highest frame rate you can push the camera to is 1,000 fps at a resolution of 224x64. The frame rates also include 420 fps or 210 fps, or a variable setting that lets you choose between 30-210 fps.
Lag Correction: Shutter lag is a point of contention for many camera users, often a more annoying issue when using a point-and-shoot that seems to take a long time to capture a shot when you press the shutter. This function is a cool tool and works by temporarily storing images that were captured during a pre-record mode, which then saves that image that is captured by the camera before the shutter is depressed.
High-Speed Anti-Shake: The EX-FS10 uses a digital image stabilization technique that it calls High-Speed Anti-Shake in which the camera compensates for shake by changing the shutter speed and ISO in order to get a shot that's blur free.
HD Movies: Pretty much a standard feature of cameras, both DSLRs and point-and-shoots, is the ability to capture HD video. The EX-FS10 captures 720p (1280x720) videos at 30 fps. While shooting videos you can still capture still images by pressing the dedicated photo button, but with only a max of 6-megapixels.
Best Shot Modes: Casio's Best Shot scene modes make it easy for the user to find their specific shooting scenario and choose a Best Shot mode to make it easy to shoot. The EX-FS10 has 20 different modes, including High Speed Night Scene for a low-light scenario. It works by detecting if you're shooting handheld or on a tripod. If it detects handheld, it will take a series of image and stack them together in-camera, but if you're on a tripod, the camera will take a longer exposure. There are also standards like Landscape, Portrait, Sundown, and an interesting one called YouTube mode that captures video that can be directly uploaded to the site.

FORM, FIT, AND FEEL

Styling and Build Quality
Ultra-slim, ultra-stylish is how this small 4.2 oz. camera can be described. The EX-FS10 is a pocket camera that fits well into a pair of pants or just toting it around in your hand, and comes in three attractive colors: gray, the color of our test model, blue and red.

The EX-FS10 is no larger than a pack of playing cards, and made from a nice alloy body. It is a sleek digital camera with a brushed finish, complete with a tripod collar, battery trap door that holds the lithium-ion battery, and an SD/SDHC memory card slot. Also on the right is the USB/AV port where you can connect up your camera to your computer or TV. With all things measured, the body is certainly well-built and ready to be put into a pocket and taken out into the field.

Ergonomics and Interface
The button layout on the camera exceeds more than 10 buttons, some of which have specific applications. There are essentially two shutter systems, one for stills, and a red record button that starts and stops any sort of video you shoot with the EX-FS10.

Other unique buttons include a 30 fps and SLOW button on the top of the camera. The SLOW button turns the LCD monitor into a slow motion view, while the 30 fps buttons helps you to toggle between high-speed shooting and single shot quickly.

There is also a Movie Mode switch that lets you toggle between High Speed movies and HD movies. As far as typical digital camera button layouts go, on the EX-FS10 you have your shutter and zoom lever coupled on top, a Playback button and a Rec. button that moves you between image and video review back to the shooting process, a four-way dial that lets you navigate through the menus, and a Menu button to get you there. Also there is a Best Shot mode on bottom that gets you right to the scene modes without having to go through the menu system.

The Menu system can be called up by pressing the button and using the four-way controller to navigate through the REC/Quality/Set Up menus, and work in the typical fashion that most digital cameras are based on, allowing you to get to exposure modes, Autofocus, and other areas of control. Although it is mostly straight forward while shooting, the camera can take some getting used to, especially the slow-motion video capture and playback.

Display/Viewfinder
The EX-FS10 uses a 2.5 inch TFT LCD screen that has 230,400 dots (960x240), and has no viewfinder. The 2.5 inch screen on the back is smaller than most digital cameras, but for the size and shape of the Casio EX-FS10, it makes sense. Overall, it is sufficient for playing back images as accurately on the LCD as it is on the computer.

PERFORMANCE

Timings and Shutter Lag

Shutter Lag (press-to-capture, pre-focused)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	0.02
Nikon Coolpix S230	0.02
Canon PowerShot SD960 IS	0.04
Casio Exilim EX-FS10	0.05
Pentax Optio P70	0.05

AF Acquisition (press-to-capture, no pre-focus)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	0.23
Casio Exilim EX-FS10	0.33
Canon PowerShot SD960 IS	0.47
Nikon Coolpix S230	0.51
Pentax Optio P70	0.87

The EX-FS10 earns Casio a "most improved" rating in our timings tests, providing significant improvements in the area of AF speed in particular compared to previous Casio ultracompacts.

Continuous Shooting

Camera	Frames*	Framerate*
Casio Exilim EX-FS10	30	30.0 fps†
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX37	3	3.6 fps
Nikon Coolpix S230	2	2.2 fps
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700	10	1.6 fps
Canon PowerShot SD960 IS	∞	0.9 fps

† Note: The Casio Exilim EX-FS10 has no continuous shooting capabilities at full resolution. It is, however, capable of shooting at 30 fps at a reduced 6 megapixels. Given this relatively high resolution, we have included the FS10's continuous shooting numbers in our comparison.

As promised, the FS10 delivered full 30 fps performance in our timings tests, albeit at a reduced 6 megapixel capture.

Auto Focus
There are five focusing modes on the EX-FS10 and three AF Areas you can specify through the menu. Focusing modes include Auto Focus, Macro that lets you to shoot between 10-50 cm away for close up shots, Pan Focus for honing in on a fixed focal point, Fixed that will give you an area of focusing for even distant subjects and Manual focus that lets you choose your area of focus.

The AF Areas that can be set up are Spot, Free and tracking. Spot is best used when you want to keep focus on the center of the frame, and is the default setting for the EX-FS10, or can be used with the focus lock to single out a subject in the center of the frame. Free is also interesting, it allows you to find your point of focus by using the four-way controller to specify a specific area of focus.

But probably the most useful AF area that I found was Tracking, because it works great when you are using the 30 fps burst rate. By depressing the shutter halfway, you can track a subject that is moving rapidly. I was able to do this on the beach when a kiteboard surfer was launching his chute and I was able to keep my focus on it moving erratically without ever losing my focus.

Lens and Zoom
The EX-FS10 has a 3x optical zoom lens that gives you an effective focal range of 38-114mm, which is standard for this level of camera, neither making it exceptional nor ahead of its class.

Wide Angle

Telephoto

The aperture speeds are f/3.9 wide to f/5.4 telephoto. The lens is a trap door lens that doesn't extend from the body, instead the diaphragm of the EX-FS10 stays in and quiet while moving from wide to telephoto lengths. Overall, edge-to-edge sharpness was good on both tele and wide ends. Zoom speed is relatively fast, but by no means a speed demon. With such a small camera design there was a lot sacrificed with the lens, making it no better than an average camera with a 3x zoom range.

Battery
The power performance of the lithium-ion battery is pretty dismal, and I found myself recharging at least 3 times during one day after using the high speed video modes, HD video and burst modes for stills, making it lackluster.

IMAGE QUALITY
The basic image default settings provide a neutral exposure, but the FS10 also comes with color filters, sepia, black and white, and also control the sharpness, saturation and contrast in two steps. The image quality at default settings is somewhat subdued and plain unless you do something like change the filter or the saturation, which is easily done through the Quality tab in the menu system.

High Contrast and Brightness

Low Contrast and Brightness

The biggest issue with the EX-FS10 is noise, which is apparent in most shots where available light is limited, including indoors and sunsets. This is an inherent problem with point-and-shoot cameras because of the size of the image sensor, though some camera companies have been able to subdue noise through more powerful image processors. In the case of the EX-FS10, noise is very apparent.

Video Quality
The real prize of the EX-FS10 is high-speed video capture. This little camera is capable of capturing extremely slow video at 1,000 fps, though it's at an extremely low resolution (224x64). Shooting at 1,000 fps in low-light will render unusable footage, while shooting in available light will still give you extreme noise. The camera creates a tiny window almost like a pinhole area that you use to line up your shot, once you are ready to shoot you press the red record button.

While I found the 1,000 fps shooting to be useful for only a handful of situations, the frame rates of 210 and 420 fps were really the most interesting and rendered the best of this slow-motion capability. The 420 setting has a resolution of 224x168; while 210 records at 480x360. Both produced better video quality than the 1,000 fps setting. While the 420 mode is in the same ballpark resolution wise with 1,000, it gives you a wider shooting area and better low-light quality, mainly due to its slower speed. But the best slow-mo recording mode was the 210 setting, giving back video with very little degradation, and the cool effect of slow-motion that doesn't look mashed up or muddy.

It's important to note that the EX-FS10 in high speed movie capture does not capture audio, but why would it? Slow-mo is intended to be a visual capture, not a super slow-mo sound recording. Also, you cannot zoom in or out during slow motion capture.

The EX-FS10 also records HD video at 30 fps at a resolution of 1280x720. The recording time of HD movies are 10 minutes, and you cannot zoom during this capture either. There is also a monaural microphone that does an adequate job of capturing audio during HD video recording.

All video from the EX-FS10 is captured into .AVI files, and the high-speed movies do not take up much space at all, which is nice, seeing as how you're getting a slow-mo without killing your memory card's capacity. Shooting HD video, however, will quickly eat memory space.

The HD video quality is on par with most of the compacts with HD video, creating consistent output with nice color reproduction and very little of the color casts that I've been seeing in some cameras I've recently shot with. The high speed movies are great if that's what you're looking for, but are by no means a way to create a cinematic masterpiece. It is a niche being filled by Casio for the consumer who wants this unique feature, but is mostly for a wow factor to show your friends.

Exposure, Processing, and Color
The EX-FS10 has three exposure reading modes including Multi, Center Weighted and Spot metering. As usual, the Multi metering is the default setting, and works well for your general purpose shooting. It does a good job of metering light throughout the entire frame, but in low-light tends to be very noisy.

Multi

Use of the Center Weighted metering worked well in available light, and was the best performer in low-light conditions.

Center Weighted

Spot metering was also a good low-light performer, and did well for measuring the light in a well-lit scene.

Spot

White Balance
Auto White Balance worked sufficiently in the field, but the studio shots taken under incandescent light were warm and left a sort of orange cast over the foreground subjects.

Auto White Balance, 3200K incandescent light

Field shooting under different lighting conditions produced satisfactory images as well.

Sensitivity and Noise
Noise is one of the biggest issues of the EX-FS10, mainly in low-light situations. Noise starts creeping into the frame when you push the camera past ISO 200, but in available light it works fine. In the studio lab tests, ISO 100 and 200 show decent images, but from 400 to 1600 you start to see noise. The EX-FS10 is certainly not the camera you want to take out at night without flash, but the camera is competent enough to produce a decent image.

ISO 100	ISO 100, 100% Crop
ISO 200	ISO 200, 100% Crop
ISO 400	ISO 400, 100% Crop
ISO 800	ISO 800, 100% Crop
ISO 1600	ISO 1600, 100% Crop

Additional Sample Images

CONCLUSIONS
The truth is that Casio has set themselves at the top of the high speed market and can't even be touched by the competition. The EX-FS10 has a remarkable technology behind it, much like the EX-F1, minus the hefty price tag. Although it does have its quirks and limitations, the high-speed movie modes are enough to draw in someone looking for this effect.

If you're just shooting casually, this camera will provide you with sufficient image quality and performance. But if you're looking to catch the action, the 30 fps mode is impressive and works great, allowing you to slow down the action and always get the shot. With the combination of slow-mo video, HD video and extremely fast burst rate for stills, this camera is for the photographer who needs all this in one body.

Pros:

Extremely fast burst rate that catches the action
High Speed Video Capture
Compact size
HD Video
Shutter lag correction

Cons:

Poor low-light performance
Zoom power limited
Limited battery life

BY: Adam Crawford, DigitalCameraReview.com Contributor

Canon EOS 5D Mark II Review

2009-06-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II, the successor to the very popular full-frame 5D, was a long time coming, arriving on the scene about three years after its predecessor, the first (relatively) affordable full-frame DSLR, the 5D.

This second iteration brings the EOS line up to date using the 5D as its base, adding new and enhanced features, a little trickle down from the 1Ds Mark III and a couple of additions borrowed from the 50D. A great mixture of features, technology and performance, the 5D Mark II has already made its mark on the photo community.

FEATURES OVERVIEW
In addition to a new 21 megapixel CMOS sensor (similar to the one used in the 1Ds Mark III), the 5D Mark II is equipped with a high resolution 3-inch LCD, a new viewfinder, a DIGIC IV processor, increased ISO to 25,600, and HD video capabilities for recording up to 12 minutes of HD at a clip.

The camera is equipped with an updated version Canon's integrated cleaning system, featuring a Fluorine coating on the low pass filter to help repel dust. The cleaning system can also be activated manually via the camera's menu.

Other notable features include Peripheral Illumination correction, which helps correct vignetting (the camera can store the data of up to 40 Canon lenses), Highlight Tone Priority and interchangeable focusing screens.

The list of additions and improvements is long and impressive but to get a better feel for what the camera does and how it performs, read on.

BUILD AND DESIGN
Physically, the 5D Mark II is pretty much a clone of its predecessor in terms of design, weight and size. Control layout is almost exactly the same, both weigh about 1.8 pounds (body only without battery) and the 5D Mark II measures only a fraction of an inch larger. The biggest external difference is the larger, higher resolution LCD-a 3.0 inch monitor (vs. the 5D's 2.75 inch LCD) with about four times the resolution of its predecessor and a wider viewing angle. A new viewfinder, which offers 98% coverage, is also a welcome addition.

Other changes include two more Custom settings options on the mode dial, bringing the total to three custom modes, and the addition of a Creative Auto mode-a feature borrowed from the 50D. The CA mode is, essentially, designed for novice DSLR users or, according to Canon, experienced photographers who want a quick and easy method of adjusting certain settings. Mostly, though, it's for people who don't fully understand manual exposure or the relationship between aperture and depth-of-field. One of the CA options, for example, moving a slider bar to "blur the background" (i.e. limit depth-of-field). It's one of those take it or leave it features that most experienced photographers will probably ignore.

Upon close inspection you'll also notice the addition of an IrPort remote sensor so you can use one of Canon's optional remotes. And, of course, since the 5D Mark II is capable of recording HD video, there are connections for an external microphone and for HDMI output.

While the 5D Mark II doesn't have a built-in flash, one of Canon's Speedlites will fit neatly into the camera's hotshoe. And if you're a macro fanatic, be sure to check out Canon's Macro Ring Lite or Macro Twin Lite flashes. Of course, the full complement of Canon's EF Lenses is available for the camera as well.

You'll need a high speed, high capacity CompactFlash card to make the most of this camera and since the 5D Mark II supports UDMA CF cards for higher capacity burst capture (as well as standard CF type 1 and II cards), I tested the camera with a 16GB Lexar UDMA card and a SanDisk 16GB Extreme IV card. Both cards performed well and having the higher capacity was extremely useful since the 5D Mark II's files are about twice as large as the 5D's. For video, keep in mind that about 12 minutes of HD video requires about 4GB of space.

A new battery pack provides between 750-850 shots per charge but that's not the only benefit of the new battery. You can also track several of the battery's data points including the remaining number of shots. A new battery grip is also available and the camera is compatible with Canon's WFT-E4A Wireless File Transmitter so you can transfer images in a number of different ways including wirelessly and directly to USB drives.

Build quality is excellent and, best of all, the 5D Mark II-like the 5D-opens up the world of full-frame DSLRs to those of with smaller hands, less than Hulk Hogan upper body strength and modest bank accounts, and offers the opportunity to shoot comfortably with a full-frame camera. Of course, you can always outsize your strength by coupling the 5D Mark II with a huge telephoto lens but that's where a sturdy tripod comes into play. Bottom line: the 5D Mark II is solidly built, has enough heft to counterbalance long lenses and is equipped with a well-designed grip for stable handholds.

Ergonomics and Controls
Since the 5D Mark II's controls are almost a carbon copy of the 5D, 5D users won't miss a beat when upgrading, although there is a slight learning curve for using Live View and shooting video on the new model. Other Canon DSLR users will also have an easy time transitioning to the 5D Mark II since controls are very similar.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the benefits of the 5D Mark II's modest physical design is that it's easy for those of us with smaller hands to use. There is one exception, however. Because the power on/off switch is at the bottom right on the rear panel of the camera, it's sometimes a little awkward to turn the camera on and off without shifting the right hand off the grip. It's not a big deal; it's just something one has to navigate a little differently than other cameras with more easily accessible power on/off switches.

Menus and Modes
Canon has kept the 5D Mark II's menu system fairly uncluttered, with the full complement of options under each tab visible on a single screen. Granted, there are more tabs to cycle through but at least you don't have to scroll through more than one virtual "page" of a menu to get to the setting you want.

There are nine tabs but even those unfamiliar with Canon's menu system can quickly figure out what each tab icon means. The first two-a camera icon on a red background-are capture settings; the two blue icons with white arrows are for playback settings, etc.

Shooting information is available everywhere including the viewfinder, top panel LCD and rear panel monitor. With the rear LCD's info panel, you can easily change all of the most important options ranging from f/stop (which is also adjustable with the main control dial), ISO, file size/resolution and more.

The exposure mode dial, located on the left top surface of the camera offers a number of different options:

Custom settings: C1, C2, C3 allows users to register three different custom modes with most often used or special settings
B(ulb): holds the shutter open for as long as the shutter button is depressed in the 5D Mark II
Manual: you set both the shutter-speed and aperture
AV: you select the aperture and the camera selects the shutter-speed
TV: you select the shutter-speed and the camera selects the aperture
Program: the camera sets the shutter-speed and aperture but some manual settings are available
Creative Auto: provides a simple graphic interface to adjust aperture and exposure compensation
Auto: the camera selects all but a few settings

Although it's unlikely the 5D Mark II will attract photographers who will make use of the Auto and Creative Auto modes, Canon didn't penalize exposure options by including them. Rather, an extra two Custom modes, bringing the total to three, is a welcome change and will be well-utilized by many photographers.

Display/Viewfinder
The new, larger and higher resolution LCD is a very welcome addition to the 5D Mark II. Even though the 3.0 inch LCD is larger than the 5D's 2.75 inch monitor, there's only a barely-noticeable shift of control positions and fractions of an inch increase in body size.

At 920,000 dots, the screen offers great resolution and can now be viewed at a wide 170 degrees. The 5D Mark II offers 7 levels of brightness adjustment, as well as auto, and while using the LCD is a pleasure under all lighting conditions, it's easy to be fooled into thinking that your exposure is right on if the LCD brightness isn't at the right level so be sure to use the histogram and highlight alert features.

The manual LCD brightness option came in handy when shooting in Live View, though. While the LCD delivered fluid movement in Live View, the image on the screen was a little dark but was easily brightened by a quick trip to the internal menu system.

While the optical viewfinder offers about 98% coverage-up from the 5D's 96%--I'd still like to see 100% coverage. After shooting with the Sony A-900, it's hard to go back to any other optical viewfinder. Still, the 5D Mark II's optical viewfinder is quite good. Optional focusing screens are also available.

PERFORMANCE
Thanks to the implementation of Canon's new DIGIC IV processor, the 5D Mark II has made some gains over the 5D. Burst mode is now at about 3.8 frames per second, versus the 5D's 3fps, and won't win the 5D Mark II any awards but given that the new model is pushing almost twice as many pixels, it's a pretty good improvement. (Sony's A900 is even more impressive but uses dual processors to push the pixels from its 24 megapixel sensor.).

A larger buffer allows the camera to shoot up to about 13 consecutive RAW files (you can add a few more when using a UDMA card). Use sRAW1 or 2, which are smaller-sized RAW files (10 megapixels and 5.2 megapixels, respectively), new for the 5D Mark II, to pick up some speed and extra shots.

Shutter lag and autofocus times are good, although I found that the 5D Mark II occasionally had to hunt for focus in very low light. I have used the 5D Mark II to shoot fashion shows but probably wouldn't take it to an air show, sporting event or car race since the autofocus and burst rate may not be up to the challenge. But wedding photographers and photojournalists will be more than happy with its performance.

Shutter Lag (press-to-capture, pre-focused)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Olympus E-30	0.02
Canon EOS 5D Mark II	0.02
Nikon D90	0.03
Pentax K20D	0.04
Sony Alpha DSLR-A350	0.08

AF Acquisition (press-to-capture, no pre-focus)

Camera	Time (seconds)
Olympus E-30	0.14
Nikon D90	0.17
Canon EOS 5D Mark II	0.18
Sony Alpha DSLR-A350	0.21
Pentax K20D	0.28

Continuous Shooting

Camera	Frames	Framerate
Olympus E-30	9	5.0 fps
Nikon D90	∞	4.0 fps
Canon EOS 5D Mark II	∞	3.8 fps
Pentax K20D	38	3.0 fps
Sony Alpha DSLR-A350	∞	2.1 fps

Note: Continuous shooting framerates are based on the camera's fastest full-resolution JPEG continuous shooting mode, using the fastest media type available (300x CF, SDHC, etc.), as tested in our studio. "Frames" notes the number of captures recorded per burst before the camera stops/slows to clear the buffer.

Unlike most DSLRs equipped with Live View, Canon has equipped the 5D Mark II's Live View with three autofocus modes: Quick, Live and Face Detection Live. In the Quick mode, the mirror drops down so that phase detection autofocus can be used. Live and Face Detection Live use contrast detection autofocus because the mirror is kept up and out of the way. Contrast detection is a slower mode of autofocus than phase detection but is certainly usable. Be sure to test the Live AF mode in video before shooting footage; depending on the subject matter and the lens used, you may want to manually focus instead since it's more accurate (and quieter).

IMAGE QUALITY
As expected, the 5D Mark II produces great images-even on its default settings. If you don't like the image, simple adjustments to one or more of the camera's many options will do the trick.

It was no surprise that auto white balance produced a very warm image under incandescent lighting. Expect this from all Canon cameras and don't depend on auto white balance indoors (AWB does work well outdoors in sunlight, however).

Auto White Balance, 3200K incandescent light

Colors are accurately and naturally rendered and, for the most part, exposures are spot on. Dynamic range is quite good as well but when faced with high contrast situations, try turning on the Auto Lighting Optimizer to maintain details in highlights. It doesn't work miracles and, in some cases, you may not be able to detect a huge difference, but it's worth using.

With an expanded light sensitivity range from 50-25,600, the 5D Mark II does an excellent job of keeping noise levels (and noise reduction softening) to a minimum.

L (ISO 50)	L (ISO 50), 100% crop
ISO 100	ISO 100, 100% crop
ISO 200	ISO 200, 100% crop
ISO 400	ISO 400, 100% crop
ISO 800	ISO 800, 100% crop
ISO 1600	ISO 1600, 100% crop
ISO 3200	ISO 3200, 100% crop
ISO 6400	ISO 6400, 100% crop
H1 (ISO 12800)	H1 (ISO 12800), 100% crop
H2 (ISO 25600)	H2 (ISO 25600), 100% crop

Although you can see a slight softening of the image above ISO 1600 (be sure to dial down the noise reduction), details are well maintained and, even at 25,600, the 5D Mark II produces cleaner images than you can get out of most any other DSLR on the market today.

HD video quality (1920x1080 at 30 fps in 16:9 aspect ratio) is excellent.

Whether you're shooting stills or video, you need the highest quality lens you can afford. Of course, good glass is ideal for any camera but because the 5D Mark II offers such high resolution and is a full-frame camera, optics are even more important with this camera.

Additional Sample Images

CONCLUSIONS
When the original 5D was introduced, Canon made it possible for photographers with relatively modest budgets to purchase a full-frame DSLR. Now, for about the same price, photographers can easily put their hands on a full-frame, high resolution camera with HD video.

As appealing as the camera's HD video feature is (especially for wedding photographers, photojournalists, and underwater shooters), the 5D Mark II is, first and foremost, a digital still camera. Excellent image quality and a full feature set are the camera's two biggest selling points; HD video is the icing on the cake. Whether you're stepping up from another Canon DSLR or want a back-up for a higher Canon model, the 5D Mark II is certain to appeal to the most discerning photographer-even those who will never (or almost never) utilize the video feature.

Pros:

"Affordable" full-frame, high resolution camera
Full feature set
Excellent high ISO performance
Live View with 3 AF modes
HD video capabilities

Cons:

Relatively slow burst mode
Autofocus a little slow in low light
No built-in flash, which is not a big deal but an on-board flash could be useful
On board microphone is fairly weak and monaural (an accessory mic is required for stereo recording)

BY: Theano Nikitas, DigitalCameraReview.com Contributor