Shoot your own 3D movie

Digital Camera Review: Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W3

by Trevor Tan

Updated 12:51 PM Oct 29, 2010

Watching Avatar in 3D on your spanking new 3D TV? How about creating your own 3D high-definition (HD) movie using Fujifilm's latest FinePix REAL 3D W3 ($799) instead?

To achieve 3D images (still and moving), Fujifilm has placed two 3x (35-105mm of 35mm equivalent) optical zoom lens 77mm apart to mimic the human eyes, with each lens having its own 10-megapixel CCD image sensor.

Shots taken are processed and combined using Fujifilm's new REAL Photo processor to create the 3D images, which you can view without wearing any 3D glasses via the 3.5-inch lenticular 3D display on the W3 camera. But you have to keep the 3D screen directly in front of you to see the 3D effect; tilting the screen reveals the two images.

At 12.4x6.6x2.8cm and 230g, the W3 is bigger and heavier than many digital compact cameras. But the build is sturdy, and the metallic finish and smooth curves offer a good grip. However, my fingers tend to block the lens, which are near the edges of the camera. Button placement is impeccable and the dedicated 2D-3D button lets you switch between 2D and 3D mode easily. A dedicated ISO button is sorely missed though.

There is no power button on the W3; slide down the lens cover to switch on the camera. Powering up takes around three seconds while shutdown is almost instantaneous.

Every 3D image you take will yield a 2D image. You can also shoot 2D images using special functions on the W3. For example, you can shoot two images with different focal length, or different ISO settings.

Image quality is good, with vivid colours and smooth skin tones. Noise performance, on the other hand, is not what you'd usually expect from cameras bearing the FinePix brand. You will start to notice slight chromatic noise at ISO 400. At ISO 800, chromatic noise is prevalent, with loss of details evident. It's the same story for the 2D and 3D 720p HD videos - noise is clearly visible at ISO 800. But audio quality is not bad and there is a lot less ambient or wind noise here compared to films shot on other digital compact cameras.

You can play 3D video clips taken from the W3 via an HDMI cable (not included in the box) on any 3D TV, as long as the TV has an HDMI input. I tried it on Samsung's C9000 and it worked beautifully. You will need the 3D glasses that come with your 3D TV in order to view the 3D videos. While you won't need 3D glasses for Fujifilm's V1 3D viewer, it only allows you to play 3D pictures, not 3D videos.

Other than its subpar noise performance, the Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W3 is a great 3D digital compact camera for 3D TV early adopters to get the most of their gogglebox. TREVOR TAN

Source: http://www.todayonline.com

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Nikon Coolpix S1100pj

Nikon boosts digicam projector



IN OCTOBER last year, Nikon launched the world’s first digital camera with a built-in projector – the Coolpix S1000pj. It was an innovative product but the projector had limited use because of low brightness.

Ten months later, Nikon has unveiled an improved version, the Coolpix S1100pj.



The improvements are in projection brightness (up 40 per cent), a 3-inch resistive touch LCD and support for projection of computer data when connected to a PC.

Such features tucked into a 14.1-megapixel camera with a wide-angle 5x optical zoom make the S1100pj a very versatile compact digital camera indeed.

How much: To be announced

http://myepaper.mypaper.sg/ebook/web_php/System/Zoom_In/Zoom_In_Page.html

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Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W3

View 3-D pics on this camera

BY YEONG AH SENG

THE box-office hit Avatar started the 3-D craze. There are now a growing number of 3-D TV sets and cameras, and one suspects more will come.

Fujifilm’s second consumer 3-D digital camera is smaller, lighter and improved.

You can view 3-D pictures on the W3’s 3.5-inch LCD display (without having to wear special glasses), or connect it to a 3-D TV set via HDMI.

The W3 has two lenses, two sensors and synchronised controls. Two pictures are taken with each shot and the camera combines them into one 3-D image or movie.


Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W3 Digital Camera with 3.5-Inch LCD


Users unaccustomed to 3-D images may find the results disconcerting at first, but one quickly gets used to the images, which may overlap and flicker a little.

The overall result can be described as interesting, even as consumers grapple with what they can do with 3-D images.

One question which is often posed: How do we print 3-D images (surely, not on a 2-D printer)?

The answer might well lie in some kind of new 3-D printer, which Fujifilm would, no doubt, have in the works.

For those who are not readyto step into the third imension, there is a 2-D option which turns the camera into just another 2-D digital camera.

How much: To be announced

http://myepaper.mypaper.sg/ebook/web_php/System/Zoom_In/Zoom_In_Page.html

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Samsung EX1

Spectacularfor its class

Digital Camera Review: Samsung EX1
by Trevor Tan
05:55 AM Aug 13, 2010

JUST how good is the Samsung EX1 ($699)? To find out, I left my digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera in the hotel room and used the EX1 to shoot pictures and videos when I was on a recent overseas assignment, which required me to walk about in huge event halls.

Slightly bigger than an iPod Classic and weighing 356g (without battery and memory card), the EX1 is compact and light enough for you to carry around without experiencing shoulder aches.

The camera is armed with a 10-megapixel image sensor, a 3-inch rotating AMOLED screen and a 3x (24-72mm of 35mm equivalent) optical zoom lens with a large aperture of f/1.8. This is probably the sturdiest digital compact camera I've reviewed. It boasts a solid metallic shell and a rubberised grip.

The design might look complicated at first glance but the positioning of its buttons is actually really intuitive. There is a bracket switch, a mode dial and a lens zoom lever on the top right, and a flash switch on the top left. However, the flash is not very powerful and could not provide much fill-light.

A scroll wheel and some buttons (such as one for video recording) sit on the rear right, allowing your thumb to handle them easily. You can use the front dial along with the rear scroll wheel to change aperture and shutter speed settings in Manual model quickly - a feature some entry-level DSLRs do not even have.

With the lens protruding mechanism, the EX1 takes up to 2.3 seconds to power up and some 1.6 seconds to shut down. Shutter lag is minimal and auto focus (AF) operation swift. With the AF assist light on, it takes less than a second to lock on a focus in poor lighting. Shot-to-shot interval clocks approximately 1.8 seconds.

The picture quality is superb for a camera of this class - there's acute pixel rendition, nice details, smooth skin tones. Colour reproduction is spot on, with accurate auto white balance. However, the pictures are a tad soft compared to the ones taken on DSLRs. Noise performance is excellent, with chromatic noise appearing only at ISO 800. Even at ISO 1600, the pictures are still usable, unless you need big prints.

Even if you have to shoot at high ISO, you can always shoot in RAW format to allow more latitude to remove noise artifacts during post-processing. The only caveat is that it's in Samsung's proprietary RAW format. While RAW processing software - such as Aperture and Lightroom - will support the EX1 in the future, you can only use the included software to convert the RAW files for now.

Many camera manufacturers have started implementing SDXC card support but the EX1 supports only up to SDHC. Maybe that's why the EX1 can only shoot 640x480 videos at 30 frames per second. So, no HD video recording on this one. Videos shot look sharp but suffer from excessive ambient audio - a problem most digital compact cameras face. TREVOR TAN

http://www.todayonline.com/Tech/Techreviews/EDC100813-0000118/Spectacularfor-its-class

Samsung TL500 Black 10-megapixel Digital Camera

Samsung 7-Inch UMPC with Touchscreen

Samsung TL320 12MP Digital Camera with 5x Schneider Wide Angle Dual Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0 inch OLED Screen (Black)

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With GPS, this camera's a snap

Digital Camera Review: Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ10

Don't you hate it when you forget where you captured that fabulous family portrait while browsing through your vacation pictures? Well, you don't have to worry about that with the Global Positioning System (GPS) feature in Panasonic's Lumix DMC-TZ10 ($649).

The TZ10 is a 12.1-megapixel digital compact camera with a three-inch display, SDXC card support and 12x optical zoom (25mm-300mm of 35mm equivalent) lens.

The GPS feature works well, allowing you to geo-tag your photos accurately. While it will take more than two minutes to get a fix on your location, the GPS will work seamlessly once the fix is done - at least until you get into buildings that block the GPS signals.

You can view the locations where you took your pictures with the included software, PHOTOfunSTUDIO HD Edition (Windows only). Those using Mac computers can use Preview or iPhoto.

Weighing 218g (with battery) and measuring 3.26cm thin, the TZ10 is light and compact. But it doesn't feel flimsy and offers a good grip.

The directional keys, playback/camera switch and dedicated video recording button are situated on the rear right while the lens zoom lever and on/off button are on the top right. The mode dial sits near the top right, allowing your right thumb to turn the dial easily.

The protruding mechanism of the lens delays the power-up time to around 2.5 seconds. Shutting down takes 2.1 seconds. Shutter lag is minimal and auto focusing is fast. It takes less than 0.5 seconds to lock on to focus in good lighting. In poor lighting conditions, it can take up to a second to focus.

Image quality is great, with accurate auto white balance, sharp rendition of pixels, vivid colour reproduction and smooth handling of contrasts. The 720p video quality is not as sharp, even though it can zoom and auto focus during video recording.

Panasonic's new Intelligent Zoom does what it claims to do by maintaining picture quality as it extends the zoom digitally by 1.3 times to effectively 16x zoom (399mm of 35mm equivalent). While there is some detail loss and purple fringing in the digital zoom range, it is not very visible.

The ISO performance is impressive, with no sight of noise artifacts till ISO 400. Only at ISO 1600 are noise levels evident. Trevor Tan

by Trevor Tan

05:55 AM Jun 25, 2010

http://www.todayonline.com/Tech/Techreviews/EDC100625-0000048/With-GPS,-this-cameras-a-snap

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