Mac|Life point-and-shoot camera RSS Feed

Canon Powershot SX100 IS

Rick Oldano — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:44:15 -0500

Get a little closer—the 8-megapixel SX100 IS also has 10x optical zoom.

Just when you think digicam manufacturers have equipped their products with every new feature there is, along comes a camera that offers consumers even more—a bigger LCD, built-in image stabilization, or more shooting modes. With the PowerShot SX100 IS, however, Canon took a surprising tack by taking something away—the optical viewfinder. Yet, what this digicam does offer is image stabilization, and it maintains the PowerShot line’s compact point-and-shoot design.

Image stabilization technology has slowly been trickling down through Canon’s arsenal of cameras, starting with the company’s interchangeable DSLR lenses, and then appearing in its high-end consumer cameras, and finally materializing in the reasonably priced SX100 IS. This feature lets you shoot at slow shutter speeds and still capture images that don’t exhibit motion blur, the jittery effect that comes from having the shutter open too long. The SX100 IS’s image stabilization will provide the equivalent of at least two ƒ-stops for your exposure. In other words, if you should expose the image at 1/125 second, the camera set at 1/60 or 1/30 will still give you a good picture.

Your pictures will also show great color fidelity and sharpness. We were very pleased with the image quality of the SX100 IS: Neutral areas in our test images showed no colorcast and skin tones were spot on. While the camera offers an ISO range of 80 to 1600, we don’t recommend a steady shooting diet of ISO 1600, as these images showed a lot of visual noise in our tests. Shooting at 80 through 400, however, should produce excellent pictures in most scenarios.

While we made great use of the 2.5-inch LCD on the back of the camera, the SX100 IS has no optical viewfinder, which means that you drain your battery faster because you have to use the screen to both frame and review each image. While Canon has improved its battery technology and has built in better, lower-power circuitry, which helps boost battery life, we would recommend that you carry spare batteries (it runs on two AAs, with NiMH lasting almost three times as long as alkalines) if you plan on a full day of shooting.

Olympus E-3

Arthur Bleich — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:13:06 -0500

Olympus’s Four Thirds sensor limits your lens choices, but the E-3 takes excellent pictures.

The Olympus E-3 is a beefy, 10-megapixel, semipro DSLR aching to beat up on the competition. But at $1,700 for its magnesium-muscled body and another $900 for a top-of-the-line Supersonic Wave Drive (SWD) lens, it may be tough to take on contenders that offer as much (or more) for the money.

Though it has an exceptionally strong build—and controls in all the right places—its Four Thirds sensor size (a trademark of Olympus DSLRs) is smaller and proportionately different than those of most other DSLRs. If you’ve shot a lot of full-frame 35mm film or used digital cameras with a traditional 3:2 image format, it may take some time to feel comfortable composing smaller, boxier images. Lens selection is also limited compared with other brands.

On the upside, the E-3 has excellent ergonomics, and though it’s a bit heavy at about 2 pounds without a lens attached, it feels well balanced. The 1/8000-second shutter speed is an impressive feature, enabling you to freeze fast-moving subjects, provided you have enough light to correctly expose at that speed. The flash also wields a lot of firepower; we shot perfectly exposed photos from more than 30 feet away using an aperture of f/4 with the ISO set to 1600 (the highest available is 3200).

The E-3 is whip-fast when it comes to focusing, and its internal image stabilization (IS) system will steady any Olympus lens. Unlike Nikon and Canon, whose pricey IS systems are built into individual lenses, Olympus compensates for shaky images with the camera’s sensor-shifting technology. Many of the 700 pictures we shot before the battery needed recharging were handheld, and at slow shutter
speeds. The E-3’s IS gave us pictures as sharp as if we had shot them at shutter speeds two to three times as fast.

We periodically checked the efficacy of the camera’s ultrasonic dust-reduction system by scoping the sensor with VisibleDust’s Sensor Loupe (4 out of 5 stars, Dec/07, p70). Though we made more than a dozen lens changes under less than pristine conditions, the sensor remained virtually spotless.

The E-3’s Live View feature lets you preview your shots on the bright, 2.5-inch TFT screen instead of through the viewfinder. Here, Olympus leads the pack. A swiveling LCD finally makes Live View useful—you can frame your image precisely when shooting high- and low-angle shots while holding the camera overhead, at ground level, or anywhere in between.

The E-3’s image quality is outstanding—we rolled brilliant 13-by-19-inch, color-perfect prints out of Epson’s new R1900 printer and also used Epson’s high-definition 8.5-by-11-inch R280 model to print others. We saw excellent details in both highlights and shadows, which is the result of good lens design, sophisticated in-camera processing, and printers that can deliver.

Most of our shooting was done with Olympus’ new f/2.8-4 12-60mm SWD lens, which maximizes the camera’s blazing-fast focus. This autofocus zoom (the equivalent of 24-120mm on a 35mm camera) produced extraordinary images with minimum distortion at its widest-angle setting—a perfect match for the E-3. We also used a 14-42mm (28-84mm in 35mm terms) f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens that costs just $250. It, too, produced superb images, though it doesn’t have the zoom range, focusing speed, or maximum aperture of the 12-60mm.

If you’re still playing the field, looking to make a commitment to a DSLR system, the E-3 has some excellent features other cameras don’t offer. If you’re already wedded to the Four Thirds system and have a fair complement of Olympus lenses, don’t even think divorce. Just renew your vows with an E-3 at your side and then go shooting off into the sunset.

COMPANY: Olympus

CONTACT: www.olympus.com

PRICE: $1,700 body only; SWD 12-60mm lens (equivalent to 24-120mm on a 35mm camera) additional $900

REQUIREMENTS: USB

Solidly built, weatherproof, excellent picture quality, Live View with articulating LCD screen.

JPEG images a bit noisy above ISO 800; requires expensive Supersonic Wave Drive lenses for maximum focusing speed.

Canon PowerShot G9

Stephan Somogyi — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:20:45 -0500

No need to lug a DSLR to every outing—the PowerShot G9 saves room in your beach bag for more sandwiches.

The PowerShot G9 is a “prosumer” camera, neither fish nor fowl in a world that otherwise clearly defines point-and-shoot versus full DSLR. But in not being clearly one or the other, the G9 winds up delivering many of the best characteristics of both. Its $500 list price is at the high end for point-and-shoots, and adding Canon’s optional lenses pushes it toward DSLR prices, but the price also foreshadows features with a high-end bent.

Unlike its predecessor the G7, the PowerShot G9 can save pictures in RAW format. RAW files are a direct transfer of the image data from the camera’s sensor without any of the post-processing that a camera would normally do to create a JPEG. RAW typically requires a little post-processing on your Mac, but it gives you the power to really bring the best out of each image. Leopard supports the G9’s RAW format natively, so you can check out the files with Quick Look or Preview without having to launch a heftier app like Aperture or Photoshop (both of which also support the G9’s RAW format).

The G9 lets you add additional lenses, a trait normally reserved for DSLRs. Canon offers Tele Converter ($149) and Wide Converter ($199) lenses that work together with the G9’s built-in, nonremovable stock lens. Third-party converter lenses are also available. In our tests, both of the Canon converter lenses delivered what they promised, but because they require relatively careful threading on and off, they aren’t quick-change lenses. External flashes are also supported for even more flexibility.

In addition to the plethora of preconfigured settings and the impressive range of manual configuration options, the G9 has two user-definable configuration sets that allow you to quickly switch to your preferred settings at the twirl of a knob. Another nice touch is the dual time zone feature, which lets you set a separate time stamp for shots when you travel, while keeping your home time zone intact.
The bottom line. For most, a DSLR is too big to lug around all the time. While its many settings and options make it a complex camera to get to know, the G9 gives you high-end features in a compact package.

COMPANY: Canon

CONTACT: www.canon.com

PRICE: $499.99

REQUIREMENTS: USB

Shoots RAW images. Highly configurable. Big features in a small package.

Pricey.

Season's Greetings, Gettings & Givings

The Mac|Life Staff — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:20:40 -0600

No more frosted faces or smiles stuck on “how nice.” No more regifting, exchanging, or Goodwill-ing stuff that missed the mark. This holiday season, all that you want will soon be here: the gewgaws, the tchotchkes, the doodads, and the thing-a-ma-bobs. The bags, the boomboxes, camcorders, and flaming logs. The mice, the cans, and the bling. Oh, you know - just about everything. Forthwith: Mac|Life’s greatest guide for gifts. Ever.

Want to take this gift guide with you to the store? Print it out with this handy PDF or upload it on to your iPod or iPhone with the files contained within this essential ZIP archive.

To: Mom, Dad or Aunt Edna

Your relatives want to make fun scrapbooks, online photo albums, and family videos to share with everyone in their worlds. Here’s some good stuff to keep those creative juices flowing.

Belkin Washable Mouse ($29.99) - Your sister will thank you again when she can quickly wash your 2-year-old nephew’s germs off the family’s shared mouse.

Maxtor OneTouch III Mini Edition ($99.99 to $149.99) - Every video, photo, and music enthusiast needs the gift of hard-drive storage, and 80GB to 160GB should do the trick.

Targus Soundup ($39.99) - Stick this sound-enhancer between Dad’s earphones and his iPod to stop his infernal complaining about his digital copy of Quadrophenia sounding too cold and sterile.

Pure Digital Flip Video Ultra Camcorder ($149.99 and $179.99) - Make this slim device the first present opened during the holidays so it can capture all of your other perfect gift picks. It records 640-by-480-pixel resolution video, ready for the Web or iMovie.

Software Mackiev The Print Shop For Mac 2 ($69.95 and $89.95) - Mom loves to send out that end-of-year family newsletter, and now she can fancy it up with this fun-to-use, jack-of-all-trades software.

More...

To: The Workaholic

It’s not just a 9-to-5 job, it’s a way of life. Set up your traveling worker bee with a useful gift, not a gimmicky toy.

Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks ($69.99) - Five programmable buttons, a teeny-tiny USB receiver, and laser technology for precise mousing. ’Nuff said. Your laptop-using giftee will never go back to the Apple trackpad.

DLO iBoom Travel ($89.99) - The iBoom lets your traveling businessperson awaken to his or her own tunes, not a jarring wakeup call or that blaring hotel clock radio.

Rain Design mStand Laptop Stand ($49.90) - Watching your hard worker hunch over her Mac notebook makes your back hurt. The aluminum mStand puts her laptop at a more ergonomically friendly height and keeps the workspace clutter-free.

Griffin Technology PowerJolt Car Charger ($19.99) - Plug this puppy into your recipient’s car power socket, and that iPod or iPhone will stay tireless, not tired.

Bose QuietComfort Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones ($299) - Designed to cut out that mind-numbing airplane noise, these around-the-ear headphones will also provide sweet solace in a bustling office. (Get the QuietComfort 3, $349, if your recipient prefers on-the-ear ’phones.)

Want to take this gift guide with you to the store? Print it out with this handy PDF or upload it on to your iPod or iPhone with the files contained within this essential ZIP archive.

More...

To: Creative Types

The key to getting a good gift for the artist on your shopping list: Appeal to his love of aesthetics and sense of design, and you can’t go wrong.

KB Covers Keyboard Covers ($24.95 to $39.95) - These keyboard covers have the keyboard shortcuts for your giftee’s favorite apps—Photoshop and Final Cut, for example - right on the keys.

Digital Spectrum MV-1040 Plus Digital Frame ($229.99) - Help your photo lover take frames to a new level. With this 10.4-inch (measured diagonally) digital frame’s slideshow mode, you can display a series of images from a memory card, as well as play a soundtrack through the built-in speakers.

Pantone Huey ($89) - Every creative needs their display’s and printer’s colors to look the same for accurate prints. The Pantone Huey is a great bargain for accomplishing those color goals, and it even adjusts the display depending on the light in the room.

Logitech Nulooq Navigator ($79.99) - Put the controls for Photoshop (and other programs) at your artist’s fingertips, literally. This nifty navigation wheel is faster than using keyboard shortcuts or pointing-and-clicking.

Wacom Bamboo Fun Graphics Tablet ($99 and $199) - Enable budding digital artists by replacing their mouse with this pen and tablet input device - it’ll be much easier to retouch photos, draw, and paint. Comes in two big sizes.

Want to take this gift guide with you to the store? Print it out with this handy PDF or upload it on to your iPod or iPhone with the files contained within this essential ZIP archive.

More...

To: The Student

Learning? Ha! Students use tech gear for creating, having fun, and communicating. But really, isn’t that part of learning?

Scott Evest Ultimate Hoodie Microfleece ($69.99) - The hoodie is a staple of the college wardrobe, and this hoodie is made for the gadget-minded with all the pockets and loops a kid could want.

Apple iTunes Gift Card ($15 to 50) - There isn’t an iTunes Gift Card big enough to get all the songs your student wants, but it does send an important message: Don’t steal music (and avoid being a target of the recording-industry authorities).

Boston Innovative iMEP MP-702-388 ($299.99) - A cramped dorm room is the ideal place for the iMep, with its 7-inch LCD, a built-in TV tuner, radio, DVD player, and most importantly, a dock for an iPod.

Isis Memory Foam Laptop Sleeve ($22 to $24) - A student’s laptop is bound to take a beating, but a sleeve will absorb some of the shock. For 13.3-inch MacBooks and the 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros. Design shown: the Nouveau.

Samson Zoom H2 Handy Recorder ($199) - This portable audio device will record class lectures, podcasts, or a dorm-room jam session and copy the audio to a Mac with no sweat.

Want to take this gift guide with you to the store? Print it out with this handy PDF or upload it on to your iPod or iPhone with the files contained within this essential ZIP archive.

More...

To: The Geek

If you decide to get your geek a tech gift, you can’t just go with any ol’ gadget. Instead, pick one of our suggestions, and your geek will be in high-tech heaven. Trust us.

Olinari Sterling Silver Dog Tag ($349 and up) - If he’s going to carry around a USB flash drive, you might as well get him one he can wear. This fashionable dog tag actually houses a 2GB USB drive.

Corsair Flash Padlock ($29.99 and $39.99) - Some data is just too important to lose. The Flash Padlock requires a personal identification number to access its contents.

Insanely Great Tees ($17) - The geek’s badge of honor (and identity) is the T-shirt, and these Mac-centric shirts are the bomb. Designs shown: Pixel Tools and (what else?) The Bomb.

Oregon Scientific ATC2K Waterproof Action Cam ($169.99) - Attach it to a helmet, a bike, or any other moving object to catch some extreme-sports video at 640-by-480-pixel resolution (recorded movies are in AVI format).

Want to take this gift guide with you to the store? Print it out with this handy PDF or upload it on to your iPod or iPhone with the files contained within this essential ZIP archive.

Happy hunting!

PowerShot SD900

Rick Oldano — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 18:22:28 -0500

Point and shoot, but watch the ISO setting on the PowerShot SD900.

As a point-and-shoot camera, the PowerShot SD900 very much fits the bill - it doesn't offer a lot of manual adjustment options, but it offers several automatic shooting modes for, well, pointing and shooting. But we found that the 10-megapixel sensor used by the SD900 can produce decent pictures only at low ISO settings.

The PowerShot SD900 has three photography modes. In auto mode, the camera sets all the parameters for your shot. The manual mode lets you adjust a limited number of settings (exposure, ISO, white balance). In the Special Scene mode, you can choose from 11 shooting scenarios, such as Portrait, Night Snapshot, and Fireworks. The camera also has a video mode that lets you shoot videos as large as 1,024-by-768-pixel resolution (15 frames per second), or at 640 by 480 pixels, 320 by 240 pixels, or 160 by 120 pixels.

Images are saved as JPEGs, and you have 18 image-quality and JPEG-compression levels to choose from. These are all adjusted through functions available on the camera's 2.5-inch LCD display, not through any menu selection. The camera has a 3x optical zoom lens - there's also a 4x digital zoom feature, but in general, discussing (or using) digital zoom is pointless because of the way it degrades image quality.

Cramming 10 million pixels into a sensor this small lends itself to some nasty-looking images if you set the camera's ISO to anything above its lowest setting of ISO 80. With the camera set to ISO 1600, images are so splotchy and discolored that they're rendered worthless (granted, shooting at ISO 1600 on any camera compromises image quality, but it's more so on the PowerShot SD900). At the nominal setting of 80, the PowerShot SD900 creates good images with good color fidelity, but you'll still have to do some noise cleanup in your image-editing application of choice - we like Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 ($79.99) or GIMP (free). Shoot at high ISO settings only when absolutely necessary.

The bottom line. When you just want a camera you can whip out and snap-snap-snap, you'll be happy with the PowerShot SD900. If you're nitpicky about image quality, consider a 5- or 6-megapixel point-and-shoot. You'll save a few bucks and be less likely to encounter problems with visual noise.

COMPANY: Canon
CONTACT: www.canon.com
PRICE: $499.99
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.2 or later, USB
Compact and lightweight. Easy to use.
Disappointing image quality when using ISO settings above ISO 80.

PowerShot G7

Rick Oldano — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 18:27:14 -0500

The PowerShot G7's lens uses Canon's Small Radius coating to reduce chromatic aberrations.

Packing 10 megapixels into a camera that's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, Canon's PowerShot G7 is just what professional photographers and serious hobbyists have been waiting for: a feature-filled camera for when you don't feel like lugging around a bulky SLR.

The PowerShot G7 comes with a 6x optical zoom lens and an optical viewfinder - a nice touch, since many cameras with a zoom beyond 4x only have an electronic viewfinder. The PowerShot G7's brilliant 2.5-inch LCD has 15 levels of brightness - the only outdoor situation where we had difficulty seeing the LCD was in bright, direct sunshine. Open shade and a cloudy day proved to be no problem.

Exposure time ranges from 15 seconds to 1/2,000 second, and f-stops from f2.8 to f8. Turning an external dial sets ISO, and the shutter speed and aperture are set with a control dial on the camera's back. Speed and aperture changes pop up on a thermometer-style display on the LCD.

The PowerShot G7 doesn't capture images in RAW format, but it has several levels of JPEG compression, and you can adjust the number of pixels captured, from high-resolution 3,648 by 2,736 pixels down to lower-res 640 by 480 pixels, plus a 3,648-by-2,048-pixel widescreen setting. The mode dial on top of the camera offers quick access to shooting modes such as Auto, Aperture Priority, Shutter Speed Priority, Program AE (where shutter speed and aperture are determined by the camera's internal light meter), Stitch Assist (for panoramas), Custom, Manual, Movie, and Scene. Select Scene and you can choose from 16 scene modes, including Portrait, Landscape, Beach, and Night Snapshot.

Canon also includes My Colors, a set of color effects you can apply to your pictures right inside the camera. For example, if you turn on Vivid Red, a red Ferrari will pop that much more. Even better: If you set the PowerShot G7 to Save Original, the camera generates two files, one with effects applied and one without.

All of our real-world shots with the PowerShot G7 had excellent color fidelity. Its rendition of primary colors found on a Gretag-Macbeth ColorChecker was impressive, and it did equally well with the skin tone and grayscale patches. Significant levels of noise at ISOs higher than 100 were disappointing, however. (By "significant," we mean that if you zoom in on the image digitally or enlarge it in print, you notice the grainy effect. At print sizes of 4 by 6 inches, the noise won't likely bother you.) Unless you keep the ISO set at 80 to 100, the noise splotches pop up like mushrooms after a rainstorm - that's what happens when you apply so many pixels to a small image. The PowerShot G7 takes great pictures within certain limits, but, oddly, you sacrifice some image quality because of the massive number of pixels - 2 to 3 million more than are really necessary on the sensor in a camera of this size.

The bottom line. Even with the image noise, the PowerShot G7's combination of features and superb color quality make it an exceptional compact camera.

COMPANY: Canon
CONTACT: www.canon.com
PRICE: $549.99
REQUIREMENTS: USB
Full of useful features. Handy optical viewfinder. Excellent LCD. Built-in color effects.
Too much image noise (graininess) at ISOs above 100.

Stylus 750

Roman Loyola — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 16:58:15 -0600

This camera fits nicely in your right hand - but only your right hand.

If Olympus meant to design a compact digital camera so straightforward that users wouldn't be tempted to even glance at the manual, the company succeeded with the 7.1-megapixel Stylus 750. It's completely automatic. Just set the camera to one of 27 shooting modes and start clicking away - with no manual settings available. It can even help you pick the right setting; just turn the mode dial to Guide, and the Settings Guide shows you several scenarios such as low light, intense backlight, and more. The guide then tells you what mode you should select.

The 4.7-ounce camera is light and compact enough to hold in one hand - your right. (Sorry, lefties.) This way, you use your right thumb to press the directional buttons to navigate the menus. Unfortunately, the flash is misplaced under the shutter button, so as you press the shutter with your right index finger, your other fingers can easily block the flash, resulting in shadowy patches on your image. The splash-proof Stylus 750's 2.5-inch LCD is plenty bright in all conditions except the most important: strong sunlight.

Next to the shutter button is a button that toggles the image stabilization on or off. The camera has both optical and digital image stabilization, which helps shaky shooters take sharp photos without a tripod, especially action or low-light shots. The image stabilization only seemed capable of compensating for mild camera shake and moderately paced action, however. It couldn't capture usable images of cars racing around a track, for example. But that's asking too much of this compact camera anyway.

The Stylus 750 produced true-to-life colors with little noise, though we found the images to be too soft overall. When the lighting is good, the Stylus 750 shines. But none of the dozens of photos taken in a dim office were keepers.

The bottom line. As a no-nonsense compact shooter, the Stylus 750 works. However, for the same price, you can find a camera with more features and better image quality.

COMPANY: Olympus
CONTACT: www.olympusamerica.com
PRICE: $379.99
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.2 or later, USB
All automatic features. Comfortable design. Good image stabilization.
Images are too soft. No manual controls.

Photosmart R967

Gil Loyola — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 16:28:49 -0600

Remember, more megapixels doesn't automatically mean a better camera.

The 10-megapixel Photosmart R967 supplants the 8-megapixel Photosmart R927 at the top of HP's point-and-shoot line. In additional to its higher resolution, it also adds an antishake mode and 10x digital zoom. While the updates look good on paper, we don't think they're significant enough to choose the R967 over the now-cheaper R927 ($299.99).

The R967 sticks with a lot of the core features that make the R927 such a good thing. First, there's the big, bright, and beautiful 3-inch LCD. Framing shots is easy, and the screen remains viewable even under strong daylight. The intuitive controls found on the R927 find their way onto the R967 - adjusting the mode and shuffling through menus and pics are effortless. Image-editing features are built in, too. You can remove red-eye, modify color, and apply artistic effects right in the camera - fun and convenient, especially if you're away from your Mac. All this in addition to the 3x optical zoom lens, VGA video connector, PictBridge support, and rechargeable lithium-ion battery make for a complete package.

Just like the R927, the R967 produces great-looking images. Colors are vivid and accurate, and overall sharpness is excellent with noise noticeable only in photos taken in low light. The R967's adaptive lighting technology helps bring out details in high-contrast photos - it does just as advertised, but we found that the best results came when it was set to low, while using the high setting would sometimes wash out details.

In an attempt to rid photos of motion blur during low-light situations, the R967 adds a new antishake mode. It works by digitally "pushing the film" (underexposing the image and then overdeveloping it). The technology needs more tuning, however; in our tests, antishake didn't eliminate or even minimize blur significantly and added tons of noise to our photos.

On the other hand, the new digital zoom, surprisingly, works like a charm. Image quality was impressive in pics we took with digital zoom totally maxed out; degradation wasn't as drastic as we normally see with digital zoom.

The bottom line. While the R967 improves on the R927, the changes aren't groundbreaking. It's hard to recommend the R967 over the R927 when the R927 is still such a capable (and now cheaper) camera. When it comes down to it, if you need the extra megapixels and more successful digital zoom, go for the R967. Otherwise, the R927 remains your best bet.

COMPANY: HP
CONTACT: 800-752-0900, www.hp.com
PRICE: $349.99
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.3.9 or later, USB
Chock-full o' features. Impressive digital zoom - for once. Nice LCD. Good image quality.
Antishake doesn't work well. Many features are found on the cheaper R927.