Canon releases its 'most versatile' DSLR, the EOS 60D

Online Only - Canon releases its 'most versatile' DSLR, the EOS 60D

by Trevor Tan
07:00 PM Sep 17, 2010

Canon's latest digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera, the EOS 60D, is also its most versatile DSLR, or so Canon claims.

Armed with a 3-inch vari-angle LCD screen, an 18-megapixel APS-C-sized CMOS sensor (1.6x crop factor) and a Digic 4 imaging processor, the 60D features nine cross-type auto focus points with a 63-zone metering system. It can shoot still images at up to 5.3 frames per second (fps).

The camera supports in-camera RAW image processing to give you greater creative licence on the go. Or, you can apply the built-in Creative Filters to your pictures after you shoot them, such as the "Toy Camera" nostalgic effect or the popular "Miniature" tilt-shit lens effect.

While it lacks the CF card slot of its predecessor 50D, the 60D supports SDXC memory cards that allow up to 2TB of storage. Plus, it can record full high-definition 1920x1080 videos up to 30fps.

The 60D touts a sturdy body that weighs only 755g (with battery), and is reasonably priced at $1,599 (body only).

Canon today also introduced two new compact camera - the prosumer Powershot G12 and the superzoom Powershot SX30 IS. Both cameras will be available at the end of the month, with pricing to be confirmed.

http://www.todayonline.com/Tech/EDC100917-0000251/Online-Only---Canon-releases-its-most-versatile-DSLR,-the-EOS-60D

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Canon IXUS 300 HS - Review

Great images, if you don't mind the price tag

Digital Compact Camera Review: Canon IXUS 300 HS
by Trevor Tan
05:55 AM Jul 09, 2010

THE Canon IXUS series has always been an embodiment of style and substance. Now, the IXUS 300 HS pushes the boundary further by incorporating a high-sensitivity backlit 10-megapixel CMOS image sensor and a 3.8x (28mm-105mm of 35mm equivalent) optical lens with a big aperture of f/2.0 at its widest focal length.

At 175g and 23.6mm thin, this camera - available in black, red and white - retains the sleek form factor of its IXUS predecessor. The three-inch LCD screen took up most of the rear area, with only three buttons and a wheel dial sitting on the right. Press the wheel dial to change flash or the macro mode. But you may forget which direction to press to get to the various functions, as there are no markings on the dial.

Even changing shooting modes requires extra steps, as you need to access the screen menu, scroll to Record mode, then scroll to the desired shooting mode.

Thankfully, camera operation is fast, taking around 1.5 seconds for startup and shutdown. Normal shot-to-shot timing clocks around 1 second. Auto-focusing is swift, taking around 0.3 seconds to lock onto a focus in good lighting. In poorer light conditions, it can take up to a second. Shutter lag is minimal for a digital compact camera.

The quality of the pictures captured is mind-blowing. Pixels are rendered smoothly, with colours so vivid and details so intricate that you would not believe the pictures came from a digital compact camera. Auto-white balance is spot-on in most occasions. Noise performance is top-notch. You can hardly spot a speck of noise artifact at ISO 400. Only at ISO 800 does chromatic noise surface.

The 720p high-definition video capture capability is competent, with fast auto-focusing when you zoom in or out during recording. But like most compact cameras, it picks up ambient noise.

You'll find the Super Slow Motion Movie function really entertaining - you can see your facial fat wobbling even with a simple head shake. You can go creative with the camera's Fish Eye and Miniature picture shooting modes as well.

A drawback of the camera is its price - $599. Add about $100 and you can get an almost similar camera but with external controls, such as the Canon PowerShot S90. Also, the camera's inability to shoot RAW files might put off professional photographers looking for a competent backup camera.

http://www.todayonline.com/Tech/Techreviews/EDC100709-0000057/Great-images,-if-you-dont-mind-the-price-tag

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PRIME series F-04B

Separation benefits

TRUST Japan, the land of fictitious, combinable (“gattai”, they call it) robots, to come up with an idea like the DoCoMo-branded, Fujitsu-made PRIME series F-04B — reportedly the world’s first separable phone.

At first blush, the F-04B looks like a typical touchscreen phone with a stowedaway numeric keypad. Slide the keypad out and you’ll see a handsome 12.2-megapixel autofocus camera great for macro shots with its shallow depth-of-field performance.

The “separable” part comes in when you want to multi-task. Hit the catch located at the base of the F-04B and it detaches itself into two halves that communicate with each other via Bluetooth.

The top half houses the 3.4-inch touchscreen, camera, speakers and storage for videos and pictures. The bottom half functions as a standalone handset, consisting of a full Qwerty keyboard (normally concealed in “gattai” mode), keypad, speakers and a mouthpiece.

The idea here is to let users surf the Internet, read their email or watch videos on the display unit, while chatting away in a voice call on the keyboard unit.

Alternatively, the keyboard unit serves as a remote control to the main display unit. The latter can function as a mini television set with its built-in One-Seg tuner — a standard Japanese phone feature that lets users tune in to free-to-air television — or a camera that you can set up on a ledge. With the 0.32-megapixel front-facing camera, users can do video conferencing, too — except they can choose to output the sound only to the keyboard unit.

You can connect the display unit to the optional F01 handheld projector peripheral (priced at an estimated US$200) to output video content — including TV,PowerPoint presentations and games —up to 66 inches on a wall.

With two sets of hardware keys, a touchscreen, two cameras, two sets of speakers, GPS and an  accelerometer, this well-endowed phone is also primed for gaming, as evidenced by the huge library of games installed in the demo unit.

Unfortunately, NTT DoCoMo said that there are no plans to bring the F-04B outside of Japan, likely due to the fact that it runs on DoCoMo’s proprietary mobile Internet platform, i-Mode. The phone retails for about US$600 ($840) in Japan.
Sim Cheng Kai

http://imcms2.mediacorp.sg/CMSFileserver/documents/006/PDF/20100618/1806ITP038.pdf

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Canon IXUS 300 HS

 

 

05:55 AM Jun 10, 2010

SIZE 100x54x23mm

WEIGHT 175g

SENSOR RESOLUTION 10 megapixels

LENS Canon

OPTICAL ZOOM 3.8x

DIGITAL ZOOM 4x

SCREEN SIZE 3 inches

STORAGE SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC/MMCplus/HC MMCplus

PRICE $599, with free 8GB SDHC card and camera case

The Canon IXUS 300 HS features a bright, f/2.0 wide-angle lens that is great for portrait, food and macro photography, as it gives users the ability to throw the background out of focus and make the subject stand out - a creative technique known as "bokeh".

But if you're someone who would rather "boogie" the night away, this camera has got you covered, too. It gives excellent low-light performance that is further enhanced by Canon's optical Image Stabiliser (IS).

IS minimises the blur associated with longer exposures when shooting at night, or when zooming in (up to 3.8x) on faraway subjects.

The maximum ISO setting at full resolution here is 3,200, but there is also a Low Light mode that lets you snap 2.5-megapixel shots at ISO 6,400. Continuous burst-shot shooting is available at 3.7 shots per second at 10 megapixels, and 8.4 shots at 2.5 megapixels.

Fast-paced action can be recorded using Super Slow Motion Movie mode, which captures video at 240 frames per second (fps) and plays back at a much slower 30fps, providing a dramatic and spectacular record of fast-moving subjects. You can also perform 720p HD movie recording with zoom control and stereo sound.

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