Olympus 820 review

                                                                                         Olympus 820


 Olympus 820 Combining proven durability with superb image quality courtesy of the new his (Intelligent, High-Sensitivity and High-Speed) family of technologies, the Olympus Tough TG-820 his has both brains and brawn. his harnesses the power of a new 12-megapixel BSI (Back-Side Illuminated) CMOS sensor and the Tropic VI image processor (originally developed for DSLR cameras olympus 820) to dramatically improve low-light performance, speed up camera response time, enhance scene and subject recognition and double zoom magnification without losing image quality.

Capture beautiful images and videos effortlessly; Enhanced auto enables the camera to automatically detect 34 different scenes (portrait, landscape, macro, etc.)Focus on fun, without worrying about damaging your camera’s high-grade components like the OLYMPUS 5x Wide-Angle Zoom Lens (28 mm-140 mm 2).

In terms of the usual camera specs, you're looking at a couple of 12-megapixel snappers with 5x wide optical zoom (28-140mm) lenses that are powered by Olympus' Tropic VI image engine. The TG-820 trumps its little brother when it comes to the display; boasting a 3-inch 1,030k dot Super Precision Hyper Crystal III LCD, compared to a 460k dot one on the Olympus 820.

The Olympus 820 has several very useful features for novice photographers, including the Perfect Shot Preview function, which displays thumbnails of the composition at different exposure settings when you adjust the Exposure Compensation. A display button on the rear panel cycles through the camera's available information display modes in both Record and Playback modes.
The 5x optical zoom lens is another welcome feature,

offering a zoom range equivalent to 36-180mm on a 35mm camera. Like many current Olympus models, the Stylus 820 has a digital zoom option available, as well as Olympus' Fine Zoom, which really just crops the image down to a smaller resolution for the appearance of increased zoom capability. Though it isn't true optical zoom, Fine Zoom is a better option than digital zoom, as it doesn't attempt to digitally enlarge the Olympus 820 image area.

Former Olympus Chairman and President, and six others arrested over scandal review

The former President and Chairman of Olympus who oversaw the financial mismanagement that has seen the company's value more than halved, has been arrested. Company auditor Hideo Yamada and four bankers connected to the cover-up of billions of dollars-worth of investment losses were also arrested.

Prosecutors arrested on Thursday former Olympus Corp. Chairman and President Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, two other former executives and a former securities company employee on suspicion of falsifying the company's financial reports in its massive investment loss coverup.

Kikukawa, 70, the Japanese camera and medical equipment maker's former auditor Hideo Yamada, 67, former Executive Vice President Hisashi Mori, 54, former employee at Axes Japan Securities Co. Akio Nakagawa, 61, and three others allegedly violated a law that bans falsification of securities registration statements.

Former President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Woodford, who blew the whistle on the company's acquisition deals, said he felt vindicated by the arrests.

The scandal surfaced late last year when then Olympus President Michael Woodford raised questions about huge payments for financial advice and acquisitions of companies unrelated to the company's mainstay businesses.

Kikukawa resigned from all posts at Olympus last year. Former Olympus chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa and two other former executives have been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into a $1.7 billion fraud case at the Japanese camera company.

Sigma 18-200 mm f/3.5-6.3 II DC OS HSM reviews

It’s enough to mention here the Nikkor 18-200 mm VR or the Sigma 18-200 mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS which, in the 18-55 mm range, fared definitely better than any 18-55 mm kit devices, still performing decently at longer focal lengths.

The OS system uses two sensors inside the lens to detect vertical and horizontal movement of the camera. It works by moving an optical image stabilizing lens group, to effectively compensate for camera shake. The lens design incorporates an inner focusing system, which prevents the front of the lens from rotating, thereby making it particularly suitable for use with circular polarizing filters and petal shaped lens hoods.

The Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS (Optical Stabilizer) HSM Lens offers an "all-in-one" super-zoom lens solution, from wide-angle to long telephoto. DC lenses are exclusively designed for digital SLR cameras. The image circle (rear of lens) is sized to match the smaller dimensions used for the image sensor on digital cameras, It accepts smaller filters (62 mm vs. 72 mm) and can focus 7 cm closer.

Canon ventures back in the water with the rugged D20

Canon-quality with every shot
Breathe new life into shooting beneath the waves and capture the rare sights and closeup detail with the special Underwater Macro mode, combined with Quick AF mode to ensure rapid and accurate focus. Handheld Night Scene mode means users can shoot dark scenes with confidence. It captures a series of high-speed shots and combines them into one crisp, well-exposed image. Active Display technology also allows users to control some camera functions by tapping the camera body, making it easier to use when wearing gloves. Retelling the story behind a stunning shot is now even easier with Movie Digest mode creating a 'making-of' film reel for a day's images.

Accessories for adventure
An easy interface allows users to search for images, create combined photo and movie Albums that can receive comments from friends, and to share Albums directly via email and Social Networking Sites.

Canon has launched its second waterproof rugged camera, the 12MP D20. It has a 5x, image stabilized 28-140mm equivalent zoom lens, featuring the company's latest 7-mode IS system. The camera's back-lit CMOS sensor allows the D20 to shoot 1080p24 movies accessible with a dedicated movie record button. Unlike the company's D10, the D20 is a relatively small, periscope-lens card camera. Canon has launched its second waterproof rugged camera, the 12MP D20. It has a 5x, image stabilized 28-140mm equivalent zoom lens, featuring the company's latest 7-mode IS system. The camera's back-lit CMOS sensor allows the D20 to shoot 1080p24 movies accessible with a dedicated movie record button.

Nikon D800 and D800E 36MP full-frame DSLRs announced preview

announced the highly anticipated D800 HD-SLR, engineered to provide extreme resolution, astounding image quality and valuable video features optimized for professional still and multimedia photographers and videographers.  A camera with an unmatched balance of accuracy, functionality and image quality, the Nikon D800 realizes innovations such as a high resolution 36.3-megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor, a 91,000-pixel RGB Matrix Metering System, Advanced Scene Recognition System and many other intuitive features designed to create the preeminent device for the most demanding photo and video applications.

Whether shooting high fashion, weddings or multimedia content, Nikon’s highest resolution sensor to date, a groundbreaking new 36.3-megapixel (7360 x 4912 resolution) FX-format CMOS sensor, affords flexibility and astonishing image quality to satisfy a myriad of client requests. The Nikon D800 incorporates the latest 91,000-pixel 3D Color Matrix Metering III and the Advanced Scene Recognition System, coupled with an improved 51-point AF system for images with amazing sharpness, color and clarity. Professional videographers will appreciate practical features that go beyond NIKKOR lens compatibility and Full HD 1080p video, such as full manual control, uncompressed HDMI output, and incredible low-light video capability.

Extreme Image Quality

The new Nikon developed 36.3-megapixel FX-format (35.9 x 24mm) CMOS sensor realizes Nikon’s highest resolution yet, and is ideal for demanding applications such as weddings, studio portraiture and landscape, where there is no compromise to exceptional high fidelity and dynamic range. Nikon engineers have created innovative ways to manipulate light transmission to the sensor’s photodiodes, giving users the ability to shoot with confidence in challenging lighting conditions.

Internal sensor design

an enhanced optical low pass filter (OLPF) and 14 bit A/D conversion with a high signal to noise ratio all contribute to a sensor capable of excellent low light ability despite the extreme resolution.  Every aspect of this new FX-format sensor is engineered to deliver amazing low noise images through the ISO range and help create astounding tonal gradation and true colors, whether shooting JPEG or RAW. Images are further routed through a 16-bit image processing pipeline, for maximum performance. For even more versatility, photographers can also take advantage of Nikon DX-format lenses for more lens options and enhanced focal range (1.5X), while still retaining sharpness and details at a high 15.4-megapixel (4800x3200) resolution. 

Contributing to the camera’s rapid performance and amazing image quality is Nikon’s new EXPEED 3 image processing engine that helps professionals create images and HD video with amazing resolution, color and dynamic range. Advanced new automatic systems make it even easier to capture amazing images. Users can expand dynamic range with in-camera High Dynamic Range (HDR) image capture, and enjoy the benefits of Nikon’s Active D-lighting for balanced exposure. This image can also be simultaneously viewed on both the camera’s LCD and an external monitor, while eliminating on-screen camera status data for streaming purposes.

The D800 also includes features concentrated on audio quality, such as a dedicated headphone jack for accurate monitoring of audio levels while recording. The D800 offers high-fidelity audio recording control with audio levels that can be set and monitored on the camera’s LCD screen. Nikon has enhanced the Multi-Cam 3500-FX AF sensor module and algorithms to significantly improve low light acquisition, for precise focus to an impressive -2 exposure value (EV). For high speed recording and transfer, data can be recorded to recent UDMA-7 and SDXC / UHS-1 cards.

D800E - Maximum Resolution Unleashed
The groundbreaking 36.3 megapixel FX-format (full-frame) CMOS sensor incorporates key technologies that enables unprecedented levels of detail and tonal range.

12-channel readout with 14-bit A/D conversion and high signal-to-noise ratio: delivers images of remarkable quality with low noise and wide dynamic range.

The camera’s intelligent noise reduction systems manage noise without sacrificing fine details, allowing superb flexibility under all lighting conditions: images are crisp and clean, even at higher ISO settings.

Kenko-Tokina Reflex 300mm F6.3 compact telephoto for Micro Four Thirds 2012

announced a new 300mm lens for Micro Four Thirds. Here are the specs:
300mm: focal length (equivalent to 35mm version: equivalent to 600mm)
F/6.3: brightness
66mm: length of the lens
66mm: the maximum diameter
55mm: diameter filter
Less than 300g: Weight

manual focus
This fixed aperture, manual focus lenses revive catadioptric lens designs are very popular in the 1970s and '80s to produce smaller high-magnification telephoto lens.This fixed-aperture, manual focus lens revives the catadioptric lens design that was especially popular in the 1970s and '80s for producing small high-magnification telephoto lenses.

Ricoh announces RICOH LENS A16 24-85mm F3.5-5.5 review

the GXR is a revolutionary interchangeable unit camera system in which lenses can be changed by mounting camera units that integrate lens, image sensor, and image processing engine into a single unit.

This camera unit features a 23.6 mm×15.7 mm (APS-C size) 16M CMOS sensor. In combination with the image processing engine Smooth Imaging Engine IV, this image sensor makes it possible to shoot high-quality images with smooth tonal gradations, as well as low noise and high-resolution.

Diverse shooting functions and high operability
With the new ISO bracketing function, the photographer can shoot and record three images with different ISO sensitivities.
When the new function for maintaining the same shooting settings is set on, by keeping the shutter release button pressed halfway after taking a picture, the photographer can continue to shoot with the same settings (focus, exposure, white balance, etc.).

The function for recording a JPEG image simultaneously with the RAW image has been expanded so that it is now possible to record only the RAW image.
Highly precise focusing

The shooting screen can be magnified for convenience in focusing. Picture settings for image quality and color can be customized with nine levels for easy creation of a diverse range of images.

My Settings enables the settings for a wide range of shooting functions to be recorded in advance and specified in an instant when needed. This expands the world of photo expression by enabling GXR users to exchange their shooting settings.

The photographer can create a unique image by just pressing the shutter release button. An image flag function has been added to enable the quick display of specific images from among those in the camera. Up to 20 images can be flagged.
It features a 24-85 mm wide-angle zoom lens, an APS-C size CMOS sensor, and Smooth Imaging Engine IV.Diverse shooting functions and high operability
With the new ISO bracketing function, the photographer can shoot and record three images with different ISO sensitivities.

2012 Nikon replaces high-end Coolpix 'P' series with P510 and P310

COOLPIX Technology

The New COOLPIX P510: Setting a Higher Zoom Standard
Shattering the conventional zoom barrier, the new COOLPIX P510 features a staggering 42x Wide-Angle NIKKOR glass zoom lens. The astounding zoom range of 24mm to 1,000mm with advanced optical Vibration Reduction (VR) image stabilization ensures that the photographer captures their intended subject with exceptional image quality. To further enhance image quality and help combat challenging low-light conditions, the COOLPIX P510 includes an advanced 16.1-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor.

The New COOLPIX P310: Low Light, No Problem
The COOLPIX P310 further fights blur by incorporating advanced optical VR image stabilization and makes shooting in low-light a breeze with several scene modes including Advanced Night Portrait mode, Night Landscape mode and Backlight/High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode. To facilitate easy composing, viewing and playback, the COOLPIX P310 features a 3-inch high resolution (921,000-dot) LCD screen.
Understanding the demand for a capable multimedia camera, the COOLPIX P310 also sports incredible video capabilities.

At the core of these powerful new COOLPIX cameras are Nikon's world-class NIKKOR lenses, delivering accurate detail, brilliant color and amazing clarity. The New COOLPIX P510: Setting a Higher Zoom Standard
Shattering the conventional zoom barrier, the new COOLPIX P510 features a staggering 42x Wide-Angle NIKKOR glass zoom lens. To further enhance image quality and help combat challenging low-light conditions, the COOLPIX P510 includes an advanced 16.1-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor. The New COOLPIX P310: Low Light, No Problem.

The COOLPIX P310 further fights blur by incorporating advanced optical VR image stabilization and makes shooting in low-light a breeze with several scene modes including Advanced Night Portrait mode, Night Landscape mode and Backlight/High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode.

Nikon has updated its photographer-friendly P series with the Coolpix P510 and P310. Both cameras offer 1080p30 with stereo sound recording.
The Coolpix P510  the zoom barrier" with a 42x 24-1000mm optically stabilized lens.
Both cameras offer 1080p30 with stereo sound recording.

Nikon updates compact lineup, including Coolpix S30 entry-level rugged camera news

Expanding on Nikon's outstanding long zoom reputation, the COOLPIX L810's extremely powerful zoom (26x) offers a chance to capture every detail without giving up the convenience of a compact point-and-shoot camera. The COOLPIX L26 is ideal for casual photographers and streamlines photo-taking with intelligent Nikon technologies like automatic Scene Modes and easy-to-understand controls. COOLPIX L810: Zoom That Goes the Distance

This latest affordable ultra zoom continues in a long line of superb Nikon compact long zoom cameras and features a super wide 22.5mm wide angle lens with VR image stabilization technology to help eliminate blur in photos and movies, regardless of focal length. Additionally, the COOLPIX L810 features a Sports Continuous Shooting mode to capture fast moving subjects. COOLPIX L26: The Simple Way to Great Photos and Movies
Let the camera do the thinking while marveling at the great images taken with the COOLPIX L26.

Meanwhile a S60 is a shock- and water-proof 10MP camera with 3x, 29-87mm equiv lens. Finally, a L26 is a graceful customary AA-powered entry-level camera with a 16MP CCD and 26-130mm equiv stabilized lens.
Meanwhile the S60 is a shock- and water-proof 10MP camera with 3x, 29-87mm equiv lens. Finally, the L26 is a pretty standard AA-powered entry-level camera with a 16MP CCD and 26-130mm equiv stabilized lens.