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FujiFilm F40fd

Steve Klett — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:27:50 -0600

If you are all about achieving the highest possible image quality (even at the expense of other features), Fuji’s F40fd is the camera in this roundup for you.

Images were noticeably sharper and slightly more vivid—with less noise at high ISO speeds—than those produced by the other cameras reviewed here. You can expect to get nice 5x7 prints at 800 ISO. This quality comes with a bit of a performance trade-off, as the F40 was more sluggish in shot-to-shot performance, and the 3-second startup time is nearly twice as slow as that of the other cameras reviewed here. And unfortunately, the F40 does not offer optical image-stabilization.

Like the 780 and W80, the F40 has effective face-detection. However, unlike those two cameras, the F40’s may be used in playback mode as well—you can use it to take a quick look at up to 10 faces in a picture to make sure no one has their eyes closed or is sticking out their tongue.

Of the three cameras tested here, the F40 has the most solid-feeling construction. And the 2.5-inch LCD was the nicest, too. And, the F40 also lets you use both SD and xD memory cards.

Unfortunately, slow performance and the lack of image stabilization mar what is otherwise a very solid camera.v

Olympus Stylus 780

Steve Klett — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:13:31 -0600

Olympus’s Stylus 780 packs a 7.1 megapixel sensor, a 5x optical zoom, a crisp 2.5-inch LCD, and face-detection technology into a weatherproof camera body that is slightly larger but more stylish than the Sony DSC-W80’s.

Like the W80, the Stylus sports dual image-stabilization, pairing mechanical optic adjustments with optional faster ISO speeds when excessive hand shake is detected or lighting conditions are poor. Results were excellent in good lighting situations, but unlike the W80, this cam also performed well when lighting was less than ideal.

The 780 also includes shadow adjustment and panorama scene modes, which aren’t offered on either the W80 or the FujiFilm F40fd (reviewed here). Shadow adjustment can be activated with a simple button press and will automatically change exposures to compensate for areas of high contrast or backlighting.

The 780’s noise reduction also performed acceptably, delivering occasionally serviceable results up to ISO 1600 and reliably usable images at sub-800 ISO. The macro modes were also noteworthy for delivering nice, sharp images. Color saturation was good, as well; outdoor images, particularly, were bright and vivid.

Overall, however, image quality was not quite up to the standards set by Fuji’s F40fd, but if you live in harsh climates or like to shoot pictures in the rain, the Stylus 780 is a rock-solid choice.

Sony Cyber-shot DCS W80

Steve Klett — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 18:19:44 -0600

Sony’s 7.2 megapixel DSC-W80 boots quickly, and its 3x zoom lens focuses with minimal shutter delay. Plus, this cam includes a traditional, if tiny, optical viewfinder!

The W80’s optical image stabilization—at low shutter speeds the camera will move a lens element slightly to compensate for hand shake—performed well in our tests. To further combat hand shake, Sony pairs this feature with increased ISO speeds, depending on shooting conditions, which served up mixed results due to high noise.

The W80 also sports the latest buzz in digicams—face-detection technology. This may sound like bunk, but it actually works. Enable face detection, and the camera will seek out and frame up to eight faces in a shot, ensuring they are in sharp focus. We did notice a significant improvement in group-portrait shots when using this feature.

Image quality was decent—shots were well exposed with good color saturation. However, noise artifacts became quite obvious at 400 ISO and above, rendering the higher ISO settings all but useless.

iControl Advanced Starter Kit

Michael Brown — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 13:43:31 -0500

This month, we also reviewed the larger of iControl’s two starter kits, which consists of a wireless camera, a motion detector, an Intermatic Z-Wave lamp module, a door/window detector, a motion detector, a keychain remote, and a control module that plugs into your wireless router.

The starter kit is just that: It can be expanded with more than a dozen additional components, including smoke and water detectors, freeze sensors, thermostats, and more. While the WiLife system is limited to video cameras, cameras are but one aspect of iControl’s product: It moves far beyond monitoring visual events in and around your home, enabling you to control your home’s lighting and climate over the Internet. It also comes with a feature we’re not nearly as enthused about: a $15-per-month (or $150 per year) subscription fee.

The WiLife system is limited to generating alerts when its cameras detect motion; iControl’s software is more sophisticated: It can not only generate an alert based on readings from any of its sensors, but also alert you when an expected event doesn’t happen. If your front door doesn’t open by 3:00 PM, for instance, you can program the system to send a notification to your PC or smartphone that your child hasn’t arrived home from school.

IControl’s system is much broader than WiLife’s and it’s entirely web based, so you don’t need to install a software client on your PC. But that $15 per month service charge is hard to swallow.

WiLife Lukwerks Surveillance Starter Kit

Michael Brown — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 13:43:02 -0500

We nearly slapped WiLife’s Spy Camera Starter Kit with a Geek Tested: Disapproved label when we checked it out in our May 2007 issue. The camera was poorly disguised in the massive body of a fugly digital clock. But the company’s software was so impressive that we called in its Indoor Camera Starter Kit ($300) and an add-on outdoor camera ($230) for a full review.
Each of WiLife’s cameras uses HomePlug powerline networking, so you need only plug the cameras into wall outlets, hook a USB receiver to your PC, and install the software. We had a two-camera system up and working within 15 minutes.

The interior camera comes with a desktop stand, a wall/ceiling mount, and a suction cup for mounting to a window. The exterior model mounts to a wall or the ceiling. Both cameras are expensive, but each is outfitted with an onboard 400MHz DSP that compresses and encodes video to WMV9 format before it’s ever sent to your PC.

WiLife’s software can manage up to six cameras simultaneously with motion-activated video recording, and it can send text or video-clip alerts to your smartphone or email address whenever it detects unexpected activity. You can also establish up to 16 tracking zones for each camera, which enables them to ignore cars traveling on the street, for instance, but activate when someone approaches your door. WiLife also provides a free online account, so you can monitor your cameras from any web-enabled device.

WiLife is a fabulous video-surveillance system—and we dig the fact that there are no monthly fees—but its scope is limited: We’d like to see the company expand this product into a more complete home-control system.

Canon HV10

Gordon Mah Ung — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 19:38:52 -0500

Remember the first time you used high-speed broadband? Or the first time you fired up a 3D-accelerated game? You’ll experience that same excitement the first time you plug Canon’s miniature HV10 HDV camcorder in to your 60-inch HDTV. Instead of the fuzzy YouTube-esque video you get with your current DV cam, you’ll get video that jumps to life. It’s like, well, it’s like going from standard-definition TV to high-definition TV.

The HV10 itself is an amazing feat of miniaturization and cost reduction. Four years ago, a similar-size DV cam would have set you back $300 more than what the HV10 is selling for on the street today (about $950), yet the tiny Canon features a full-HD-resolution CMOS sensor, based on the sensor’s native resolution of 1920x1080 (1080i). Granted, that’s mostly marketing fluff because even though the sensor captures at 1920x1080, the extra pixels are trimmed, so the camera can write to the lower-resolution HDV spec, which is 1440x1080. Still, that’s a hell of a lot more pixels than a standard DV’s 720x480, and it shows.

While it pushes the edge on resolution, the HV10 plays it safe with storage. Eschewing the trend toward direct to disc, hard drive, or flash RAM storage, the HV10 uses traditional MiniDV tapes and can record an hour on each tape. That’s fine by us. You can get a six-pack of tapes for $20. Tapes are also a good medium for archiving. Since they’re so cheap, you can just toss them into the safe after capturing the raw video to your PC. If your hard drive implodes, you’ll still have your memories on tape as backup.

The camcorder features a built-in 3.1-megapixel camera and integrated flash that writes images to a separate MiniSD card. The image quality is just adequate, and the flash and flash metering could use improvement. We were also bummed that you can’t shoot images while you record video. You can, however, shoot still images off the tape after the fact, although the quality isn’t particularly impressive.

Unfortunately, we had several issues with the camera. We understand the push for smaller video cameras, but the HV10 is so small we could barely operate its controls. Fortunately, Canon uses a top-quality optical stabilizer to keep the camera steady, even when you’re reaching for buttons slapped into its every crevice.

Canon also leaves out mic and headphone ports. That’s a big no-no for anyone who wants finer control over audio. It also doesn’t help that Canon placed the microphone on the rear-top of the HV10—we found that the camera picked up our breathing on occasion. D’oh! There’s also no hot shoe for auxiliary lighting (the tiny white LED is inadequate beyond a couple of feet). Additionally, the auto white-balance tended to be a bit cool under both incandescent and fluorescent lighting.

Battery life, while not great, wasn’t bad. We recorded around an hour of footage at HDV res using a combination of the foldout screen and viewfinder. Canon says recording at DV resolutions will yield slightly more time on the same battery.

That said, you can’t make a camera this small with this much technology without sacrificing some features, but the lack of mic and headphone jacks probably won’t matter to the majority of potential customers, who will treat this camera as a basic point-and-shoot. And, as always, you can extend battery life by purchasing a larger battery.

It would be better if we didn’t have these kvetches, but we think the HV10’s pluses far outweigh its minuses.

Kodak EasyShare V570

Steve Klett — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 15:30:09 -0500

Ever have that problem where you want to take a nice group picture of your friends, say at the Grand Canyon, and you just can’t get ‘em all in the frame? So you ask them to keep backing up a step and before you know it… oops!

Well, this camera will help make your next vacation a bit safer. The V570 packs two lenses into its sleek body: an ultra-wide angle (23mm) and a 5x optical zoom (39mm-to-117mm). This amounts to all the standard capabilities of a point-and-shoot, plus the ability to go to wide-angle for group portraits and the like.

Of course, with dual lenses you’re talking about dual 5-megapixel image-sensors, which translates into a higher price compared with competing single-lens cameras. We think the added functionality of the dual-lenses is worth it, especially when you take into account the camera’s overall solid image quality, particularly indoors. There is, however, a noticeable hitch in the LCD viewfinder image when the camera makes the jump from 39mm to 23mm—you must depress and re-press the zoom controls to make the viewfinder register the switch.

Call us old-school but we miss having the optical viewfinder in addition to the LCD, for composing shots. That said, the 2.5-inch LCD is crisp and performs well in all but the brightest outdoor settings, and the camera’s controls, including automatic scene modes, are easy and comfortable to use. A 30fps MPEG-4 movie mode is offered, but the video suffers from severe grain, rendering it an afterthought at best.

An included panoramic picture mode guides you through the process of snapping up to three pictures, providing image overlays on the LCD and then stitching them together in-camera. This is pretty cool, as you can immediately view the results—which were quite good in our tests—and determine whether you need to retake the shots.

If you’re looking for simplicity and flexibility, the V570 is well worth consideration. (Note: Kodak has already released an updated 6-megapixel version, the V610, with integrated Bluetooth capabilities and a 10x optical zoom, for $50 more.)

Month Reviewed: September 2006

Verdict: 8

URL: www.kodak.com

Canon EOS 5D

Gordon Mah Ung — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 16:34:45 -0600

Look into the viewfinder of a consumer-grade digital SLR and you’ll notice a startling difference compared with a film camera and the same lens: Your view is cropped, in much the same way black bars crop a widescreen movie to fit an older TV.

Those black bars are gone with Canon’s breakthrough 12.8MP EOS 5D camera, the first semi-affordable full-frame digital SLR. Peer through the beautifully bright viewfinder of the 5D and you’ll be stunned by how much of the image you’ve been missing with your run-of-the-mill SLR.

That “black bar” effect is due to the size of the camera’s image sensor. While a normal frame of film is roughly 36x24mm in size, the average consumer digital SLR, such as Canon’s EOS 20D or Rebel XT, features a sensor that’s about 22.5x15mm. The smaller sensors in these cameras, in effect, turn a “normal” 50mm lens into an 80mm telephoto. An ultra-wide angle 20mm lens is equivalent to an average 32mm lens.

Why doesn’t everybody use a full-frame sensor? The problem is cost. The larger the sensor, the lower the yield. The lower the yield, the more it costs. That’s the breakthrough with the 5D. While a $3,300 street price sounds steep, the company’s first full-frame camera cost $8,000 in 2003.

To lower the price, Canon cut out pro features such as weather resistance and a more advanced auto-focus system. That doesn’t mean the 5D is a featherweight that’ll short out on a humid day. In fact, the magnesium alloy body feels more solid than the EOS 20D body and should survive light rains or mist just fine. Just don’t expect to cover a hurricane with it.

Even without pro-level auto focus, the 5D is still improved over the 20D. Focus response is snappy and accurate, even in low-light conditions. We also like the diminutive size of the 5D compared with the huge pro bodies that scream “rob me at knife point, please.” Given its three-frames-per-second capture rate, the 5D isn’t intended as a sports camera, but its deep buffer of 60 JPEG or 17 RAW files, and fast write times to Compact Flash cards mean you’ll likely never wait for a shot.

We compared the 12.8MP 5D to an 8.2MP EOS 20D and Nikon’s 12.4MP Nikon D2X. In low-light conditions, the 5D’s high ISO performance is stunning. At 1600 ISO, it outclasses the 20D, which was the previous benchmark for low noise, or “grain.” Thanks to improved noise algorithms, and a sensor that isn’t as crowded with pixels as the smaller sensors in the D2X and 20D, the 5D is the new camera to beat for low-light photography. In resolution, as expected, there’s no discernible difference between the D2X and the 5D, but both offer a bit more detail than the 20D’s 8.2MP.

Is the 5D right for you? As any photographer will tell you, a camera is just a tool, and you pick the right tool for the job. The 5D is the tool for landscape, wedding, studio, or street photography, but not the best tool for sports or action shoots.
We give Canon kudos for getting a full-frame sensor into the hands of serious amateurs, but Canon isn’t demonstrating the zany, out-of-the-box thinking that Nikon has with its D2X, which features an even more “cropped” mode to increase the frame rate from 5fps to 8fps at the cost of resolution.

Still, hold the 5D up to your eyeball, and you’ll have a hard time looking through the viewfinder of a cropped camera again.

Month Reviewed: February 2006

+ Henri Cartier-Besson: Butter-smooth images in low light, no crop factor, and a huge LCD.

- Carter Country: Soft-touch shutter release feels mush; skimpy viewfinder info.

Verdict: 9

URL: www.canonusa.com