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New Stuff: SLR Happy

Mac|Life Staff — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:38:08 -0500

EOS Rebel XSi

Use the viewfinder of the LCD’s Live View to frame subjects.

Canon, www.usa.canon.com
Price: $799.99 (body only), $899.99 with lens
Canon’s new entry-level SLR features a 12.2-megapixel sensor, a Digic III image processor, and 3.5 frames per second of continuous shooting.

D60

Comes with a Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR image stabilization lens.

Nikon, www.nikonusa.com
Price: $749.95
Nikon’s new 10.2-megapixel SLR has the same form factor as the Nikon D40. An eye sensor dims the LCD to cut down glare while you look through the viewfinder.

K200D

The K200D has a dust removal feature.

Pentax, www.pentaxslr.com
Price: $799.95 with lens
This midlevel SLR features an 11-point SAFOX VIII autofocus system and shake reduction to mitigate camera jitter.

Review: Pentax K10D

Arthur Bleich — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 17:37:57 -0500

The K10D has a built-in dust-removal system to keep the CCD speck-free.

Canon and Nikon currently rule the roost when it comes to digital SLR cameras, but lots of other SLR manufacturers are knocking at the henhouse door, and Pentax may be pounding the loudest. With its feature-filled K10D, Pentax has an SLR that no serious photographer should ignore.

The K10D has Goldilocks proportions - it's not too big, it's not too small, it's just right. Its controls are perfectly situated, its grip ample, and many buttons can be reassigned to perform alternate functions to customize the controls to suit the way you work. In addition to the usual shutter priority, aperture priority, and manual modes, the K10D can also be set to shift its sensitivity automatically whenever preset exposure combinations exceed the range of the originally set ISO. This is an immensely handy feature, because so often a photo opportunity comes spontaneously, with no time to make adjustments.

The built-in shake reduction works with any Pentax lens that can be fitted to the camera. The feature not only reduces up-and-down motion, but it also calms jiggles caused by rotational movement, something most other digital SLRs can't do. We particularly liked a special RAW button that, when pressed, not only captured the current image in RAW file format, but also produced a high-quality JPEG photo at the same time. While shooting in RAW mode is not for everyone (RAW images require more storage memory and often need post-processing in a separate imaging application) the format can frequently extend the exposure range of pictures taken under suboptimal lighting conditions. The K10D can also process RAW images right in the camera, allowing correction of under- or overexposed shots and the adjustment of white balance, sharpness, saturation, contrast, resolution, and compression, all after the image has been exposed.

The K10D also breaks with a Pentax tradition. All previous Pentax digital SLRs used AA batteries, which are ubiquitous but don't last very long. The K10D's rechargeable lithium-ion battery lasted 460 shots, or half that number with the K10D's powerful flash, which you have to flip up and down with your finger. That's more than enough battery life for a normal day's shooting.

When we transferred our shots from the 2GB Lexar Professional SD card that we used with the K10D (Pentax doesn't include an SD card), we found tack-sharp images, even after we tightly cropped several photos (an advantage of the 10-megapixel CCD). And picture quality was excellent, even at ISO 1600, though a smidgeon of noise could be discerned at ISOs over 400 on some 13-by-19-inch blow-ups.

We even shot some pictures with a 40-year-old Pentax 50mm lens. With the aperture set at f/1.4 to selectively focus on a foreground subject, the results were superb, with excellent bokeh (the Japanese word describing perfectly round, out-of-focus background circles produced by high-quality lenses).

The bottom line. If there's anything major not to like about the Pentax K10D, we couldn't find it. It's a good-looking, superb performer that'll more than satisfy even the pickiest photographer.

COMPANY: Pentax
CONTACT: www.pentaximaging.com
PRICE: $999
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.2 or later, USB
Superb build. Excellent images. Very low noise at high ISOs.Three-way shake reduction. Dust removal for CCD sensor.
Flash must be raised manually. Lens hood must be removed when using flash to avoid shadows. SD card not included.

K100D

Arthur Bleich — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 16:13:09 -0600

Don't be put off by its relatively low 6.1-megapixel resolution - this is plenty of camera for the price.

Pentax's K100D SLR camera is so user-friendly it practically smiles when it's powered up. Good ergonomics coupled with a stainless steel chassis and a killer price make it an ideal choice when you're ready to move up to a digital SLR camera but don't have the cash for a Nikon D80 ($1,299 with lens, www.nikonusa.com) or a Canon Digital Rebel XTi ($899 with lens, www.canonusa.com).

Although the K100D's 6.1-megapixel resolution may sound puny in today's 10-megapixel world, we found its resolution to be more than enough to roll color-brilliant, tack-sharp images out of our Epson Stylus 2200. The camera's stock lens, a smooth-as-butter Pentax f/3.5-to-5.6 zoom lens with a focal length of 18 to 55mm (27 to 83mm in 35mm terms), includes a sunshade and is perfect for general photography. When used at its widest focal length, however, slight vignetting (darkening) appeared at the extreme corners of the image.

The K100D has a built-in shake reduction mode that compensates for unsteadiness at slow shutter speeds when the camera is hand-held; it also works well for tight zooms and extreme close-ups. This feature works with any Pentax lens, and with an inexpensive adapter ($25), you can even use earlier screw-in lenses (which are of high quality and can be found dirt cheap at your local used-camera store), though you'll need to manually focus and set apertures.

The K100D's viewfinder has a diopter control that'll adjust for your eyesight with its big, accessible slider. The camera uses SD memory cards, has shutter speeds to 1/4,000 of a second, and has a flash that sits high enough above the lens to eliminate most red-eye.

The K100D can take awesome black-and-white infrared pictures - a secret not revealed in the otherwise well-written manual. We gave this a try by placing a visually opaque Tiffen 87 infrared filter over the lens. Though we then had to approximate where to aim the camera, the K100D was able to focus through the filter, calculate exposure, and usually selected shutter speeds from 1/6 to 1/30 of a second. Most other digital SLRs (if they can shoot IR at all) require long exposures and a tripod; with the K100D's shake reduction activated, we captured sharp, well-exposed images.

The K100D uses four AA batteries - the included alkalines went belly-up after 60 shots. Our Maha PowerEX 2700 mAh NiMH rechargeable batteries ($14.95 for four, www.mahaenergy.com) yielded over 400 shots.

The bottom line. The K100D is a quality camera that's fun to shoot with and delivers superb images, and it's available at a great price if you're looking for your first SLR.

COMPANY: Pentax
CONTACT: 800-877-0155, www.pentaxslr.com
PRICE: $699 with 18-55mm (27-83mm 35mm equivalent) f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 8.6 or later, Mac OS 10.1 or later, USB
Quality construction. Excellent images. Built-in shake reduction works with all Pentax lenses. ISO to 3,200 for extreme low-light photography. Uses AA batteries.
Continuous shooting limited to four to five frames before buffer fills. Four-way rocker switch not positive enough. Short battery life.

Alpha DSLR-A100K

Arthur Bleich — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 16:07:59 -0600

Sony's hoping to get a piece of the growing SLR pie with the new Alpha A100K.

The Alpha DSLR-A100K is the first of a new line of Sony digital SLR cameras, and this 10.2-megapixel powerhouse is an in-your-face challenge to the SLR old boy's club of Canon, Nikon, Olympus, and Pentax. It's the first SLR released after Sony and Konica-Minolta announced a collaboration, and it shows: The A100K finds its roots in Konica-Minolta's Maxxum 5D.

Compact and well balanced, the A100K's grip allowed our forefinger to align perfectly with the shutter button. Menu diving is considerably reduced thanks to an innovative Function Dial on the top left of the camera. By turning the dial and pressing its center button, you access metering modes, flash options, focus, ISO, contrast, saturation, sharpness, white balance, and control over the dynamic range of the image. Each function's options were displayed on a 2.5-inch LCD, ready for fine-tuning with the camera's rocker switch.

The A100K also has a separate mode dial with six preset scene selections in addition to the advanced settings. With a top shutter speed of 1/4,000th of a second, continuous shooting of up to three frames per second, and a flash reach of over 40 feet (at ISO 1,600), there isn't much you won't be able to shoot. You can even keep the shutter open for up to four hours for special night effects.

We got a big kick out of the A100K's autofocusing system - the camera has an IR sensor under the viewfinder that triggers the focusing when you bring the camera to your eye. But when we wanted to try the flash, we were stumped. It doesn't pop up automatically and there's no button. You have to lift it up with your fingertip - how quaint! On the other hand, you can be sure it will never flash when you don't want it to.

We slid in the camera's 750-shot rechargeable battery, inserted a 2GB SanDisk Extreme IV CompactFlash card (you can also use Sony's Memory Stick Duo cards with an included adapter) and set off to shoot local flora and fauna. The camera turned on in about a second, focus was quick, shutter lag was a nonissue, and shot-to-shot time was as fast as we could click 'em, even when using the 3-frames-per-second continuous burst mode. Colors reproduced accurately with good saturation and big blow-ups on Epson's Stylus Photo 2200 inkjet printer showed excellent detail.

The A100K's sexiest feature is its antishake capability, which Sony calls Super SteadyShot. It works with any lens, and when turned on, it shifts the sensor to cancel out camera movement at slow shutter speeds. We tried it under three conditions most likely to produce blurry images. First, we shot at a very slow shutter speed in low light. Then, we racked the telephoto lens out to its maximum focal length (the shaky, high-powered binocular analogy). Finally, we shot some extreme close-ups. In each case we were able to get sharp images at slower-than-normal shutter speeds that let us use smaller apertures to better keep both near and far objects in focus. When we shot under the same conditions with the antishake off, most of our images were unusable. Sony also uses this feature to shake dust off the sensor when the camera is powered down.

Sony offers an inexpensive starter lens that we used to shoot most of our images - a Sony 18 to 70mm (27 to 105mm in 35mm terms), f/3.5-5.6 lens (with an included sunshade) that has a silky-smooth zoom and is extraordinarily sharp. We also had an opportunity to try Sony's lightweight 11 to 18mm (16.5-27mm in 35mm terms), f/4.5-5.6 super wide-angle lens that gave us visually dramatic pictures with great depth of field. Most Minolta lenses (and millions of them are out there) will work with the camera, and a line of Zeiss-made digital glass is on the way.

The bottom line. When Konica-Minolta decided to ditch its camera business, you could just hear its Maxxum 5D echoing a Brando-esque, "I coulda been a contenda!" With Sony now at ringside, the rejuvenated A100 definitely has a shot at the title.

COMPANY: Sony
CONTACT: 877-865-7669, www.sonystyle.com
PRICE: $999.95 with 18-70mm (27-105mm 35mm equivalent) f/3.5-5.6 lens, $899.95 body only
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.1 or later, USB
Great ergonomics. Easy to learn. Fine images. Built-in antishake preserves image sharpness at slow shutter speeds.
Flash must be raised manually. Mechanically noisier than others in its class. No Mac image browser included.

EOS 30D

Rick Oldano — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0500

It's well worth the pain it may cause to your credit card.

You've heard the old adage before and have undoubtedly seen it in the pages of our magazine: You get what you pay for. The EOS 30D is priced toward the high end for a prosumer digital SLR camera, but it lives up to all the artistic demands you have as a photographer.

While there aren't many differences between the EOS 30D and its predecessor, the EOS 20D, the most notable change is the LCD on the back of the camera: The EOS 20D has a 1.8-inch LCD with 118,000 pixels; the EOS 30D has a 2.5-inch LCD with 230,000 pixels. The larger LCD is a vast improvement for reviewing your photos, because when you enlarge a photo in the LCD to check for proper focus, you can see more of the image.

The EOS 30D has 8.2 million pixels on a CMOS imager measuring 22.5 by 15 millimeters - when you use any of Canon's EF series of lenses, you will gain a 1.6x multiplier on that lens's focal length. You can also use Canon's EF-S series of lenses with no multiplier effect. The camera's body has separate mounting indicators on the lens mount for each series of lenses.

While the EOS 30D has a hot shoe to mount an external electronic flash, the camera also comes with a flash built in to the top of the camera's viewfinder; when you pop it open, it stands high above the camera. We found the built-in flash to be more than adequate for any number of typical situations, but you can still use a different flash if the situation calls for it. During a series of events we photographed, we found that the camera did not require a battery recharge, even after it had captured 500 images.

The EOS 30D has a basic ISO range of 100 to 1,600, expandable to 3,200, in 1/3-stop increments. To test the ISO, we took shots of a middle-school stage play; the lighting was what you might expect for a school play - good for viewing the young thespians but challenging for shooting photos. We increased the ISO from the nominal 100 to 800, a three-stop increase, and we were impressed with the images. If you think you'll need to capture images in low light, the EOS 30D should be more than up to the task.

Overall, the EOS 30D gave us the image quality we expect from a high-end prosumer digital SLR camera - all the images we shot exhibited good color fidelity, and they sharpened up nicely in our favorite image manipulation apps. And when we set the camera to save using the best-quality JPEG level (there are six different save formats, including RAW, and files are saved to CompactFlash cards), we saw little to no evidence of JPEG artifacts. Since the EOS 30D is PictBridge-compatible, it can also print images directly to a printer via USB; you control the print settings through the camera's LCD. There's also a video-out port (cable included) for connecting the EOS 30D to a TV and viewing the images on a big screen.

The bottom line. If you can afford the EOS 30D, buy it. If you need to save for it, then be patient - eating ramen for a month to save up the extra cash is worth it. You won't be disappointed with the EOS 30D.

COMPANY: Canon
CONTACT: 800-652-2666, www.canon.com
PRICE: $1,399 (body only), $1,499 (with lens)
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.2 or later, USB
Great image quality and color fidelity.
A little pricey.

Evolt E-330

Arthur Bleich — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 00:00:00 -0500

The E-330 is the first digital SLR camera to offer live image previews on its tilting LCD.

The Evolt E-330 is the first interchangeable-lens digital SLR camera that allows live previewing of images on its 2.5-inch LCD. For most photographers it's probably not a big deal, since SLR cameras let you see an accurate, through-the-lens image of your shot in the optical viewfinder. But live LCD framing can be handy when holding the camera up high to shoot over a crowd or down low for dramatic angles. And it can be invaluable for shooting small objects and ultra close-ups with the camera on a tripod - you don't have to straddle the tripod or use a step stool to look through the viewfinder.

An image viewed in the optical finder of a digital SLR first passes through the lens upside-down and is then reflected (hence the reflex) by a series of mirrors so you can see it correctly. However, the position of one of the mirrors prevents the transmission of a live image preview to the LCD. In the E-330, Olympus positions a small, second sensor in the reflex viewing path that allows the image to be displayed at about 95 percent of its size on the LCD - this mode is called Live View A. In Live View B mode, the mirror that's in the way is moved aside and locked in place so photos can be previewed exactly as the camera's 7.5-megapixel NMOS sensor, called Live MOS, will record them. Both methods work well when used appropriately, but each has its own nuances.

We used Live View A for general photography, but when we held the camera away from us, we had to remember to flip a lever to prevent light from backing into the viewfinder, which can cause underexposed images. In Live View A, you can use autofocus - but remember, you only see about 95 percent of the actual image you are shooting.

Live View B mode lets you see the actual size of the image the E-330's Live MOS sensor will capture. But in this mode, you have to manually focus the camera. We used this mode for close-ups with the camera on a tripod, moving a little green target box on the screen to perform a 10x magnification of sections of the image. We were then able to critically focus on those areas without moving the camera or zooming in, both of which would have required us to reframe the image. If macro or tabletop photography is your thing, this feature is priceless.

The E-330 delivered beautifully sharp pictures with virtually no noise up to and including ISO 400. And although ISO 800 is a bit noisy, it's tolerable. However, we found that the camera's noise-reduction feature (which can't be turned off) softened images a little too much for our liking at ISO 1600. Aside from that, exposures are right on, and color is near perfect.

The camera also has an excellent range of image-adjustment settings for color, tone, and sharpness, as well as lightning-fast writing to memory cards. Buttons and dials are in the right places, and the grip is extremely comfortable. We liked the option of being able to manually control the flash intensity, especially useful for close-ups. Menus could use a bit of work, though; that's always been Olympus' Achilles heel.

The bottom line. The E-330's live-view capability is a technological breakthrough that you'll find quite useful, especially when you're shooting at odd angles.

COMPANY: Olympus
CONTACT: 800-622-6372, www.olympus.com
PRICE: $999 (body only), $1,099 (with 14-45mm lens)
REQUIREMENTS: USB, Mac OS 10.1 or later
Excellent image quality. Live image previews on bright, 2.5-inch, tilting LCD. The 14-45mm lens is a gem.
Sluggish manual focus. Menus can be confusing. Images somewhat soft at ISO 1600.

Evolt E-500

Arthur Bleich — Mon, 01 May 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Feature-filled - and takes nice pics, too.

The eight-megapixel Olympus Evolt E-500 is a comfortable and reasonably light digital SLR camera with high-quality lenses that produce equally high-quality images, making it a top contender in its class.

The E-500's rubberized, slip-proof grip is perfectly sized - your nose has a nice resting place when you hold the camera to your eye. The camera remains rock-steady when rotated to shoot vertical images, and the tack-sharp Zuiko 14mm-to-45mm (28mm-to-90mm equivalent on a 35mm camera) f/3.5-to-f/5.6 digital lens has smooth-as-silk zooming.

The E-500's nice 2.5-inch LCD viewing screen makes it easy to view images and compare them side by side. The LCD also doubles as a status monitor, and the interface icons are easy for older eyes to read. You can pack plenty of ammo when you shoot, since there are two memory-card slots: a CompactFlash slot and an Olympus xD-Picture Card slot.

Be prepared for a slight tunnel effect when previewing pictures in the viewfinder - you'll feel a bit as if you're looking through a tube - but even four-eyed photographers can view the full image without the edges disappearing. For a bigger viewfinder image, just slip off the eyecup and replace it with an optional magnifying one ($49). Sequential shooting could be improved; you can only take four pictures at a time at a rate of 2.5 frames per second. You can still continue shooting normally while the buffer clears and then shoot another high-speed sequence, but four frames isn't enough, especially when shooting action scenes.

Shot-to-shot time is as fast as you can press the shutter release, and shutter lag (the time from when you press the release to the actual exposure) is virtually nil. Shutter-speed choices range from 1/4000 of a second to 8 minutes, and ISOs range from 100 to 1,600. The E-500 can shoot at several megapixel resolutions, and formats include JPEG, TIFF, RAW, and RAW+JPEG. The automatic sensor cleaner uses ultrasonic vibration to remove loose dust particles from the CCD each time you power up, so black specks won't appear on your image.

There are five scene settings on the mode dial: Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports, and Night Scene And Portrait. If you turn the dial to Scene, you can scroll through these choices plus ten more, each with descriptions and image examples displayed on the LCD monitor. You can also set the E-500 to Auto or Program and let it do most of the thinking for you. When you're ready to perform manual adjustments, Aperture priority, Shutter priority, and Manual exposure are at your command.

At low ISO settings, the E-500's picture quality is extraordinary, but when we pushed the ISO over 400, images tended to become noisy. At ISO 400, we were able to roll out 12-by-15-inch images on our Epson 2200 printer that showed great detail in both shadows and highlights, perfect color, and no noticeable noise. The camera's TV mode also yielded great output on a video projector that threw a four-by-five-foot image on a screen.

The bottom line. If you haven't accumulated a bunch of lenses that dictate buying another brand, the E-500 has all the features you'll ever need, plus some that its competitors don't have. The E-500 is a quality camera.

The Evolt E-500's standard lens yields razor-sharp detail. Meow!

COMPANY: Olympus
CONTACT: 888-553-4448, www.olympus.com
PRICE: $799.99 (with 14mm-to-45mm lens), $899.99 (with 14mm-to-45mm and 40mm-to-150mm lenses)
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.2 or later
Comfortable. Fast shot-to-shot times. Excellent lens quality. Accurate flesh tones.
Slightly small viewfinder. Memory card not included. Sequential shooting speed could be faster.