Category: Sony

Nikon has announced their new ten megapixel D80 digital SLR, the company’s successor to the trailblazing D70/D70s cameras.

Along with the beefed up megapixel count, the D80 sports an updated body design with some softening of lines and a slight slimming down of the overall size.

There’s also a new image processing engine, improved menu interface, 3D Colour Matrix Metering II, 11-area AF system and configurable Auto ISO (selectable maximum ISO, minimum shutter speed) and configurable high ISO and long exposure noise reduction.

On the back of the camera, there’s a larger and brighter viewfinder and the welcome addition of a bigger 2.5″ LCD TFT LCD screen offering improved resolution (230k) and a 170 degree viewing angle.

The D80 also offers a suite of in-camera retouching tools including shadow / highlight enhancement, red-eye reduction, trimming and monochrome and filter effects.

Upgraders may not be so chuffed with Nikon’s decision to switch from the chunky Compact Flash format to SD cards, but new users will appreciate the adoption of the far more popular storage medium.

Sitting between the entry-level Nikon D50 and the semi-professional / professional D200, the D80 looks a wallet tempting proposition, and should provide fierce competition for Sony’s Alpha 100 SLR.

The D80 will be hitting the shelves in September with a keen body-only price of in £699 ($999), or £949 ($1299) for the kit including the 18-135 mm DX lens.

Nikon D80 specs Sensor 10.2 million effective pixels
Image sizes 3872 x 2592 (10.0 MP), 2896 x 1944, 1936 x 1296, 2240 x 1488, 1504 x 1000
Autofocus 11 area TTL, Nikon Multi-CAM1000
Lens servo Single-servo AF (AF-S), Continuous-servo AF (AF-C), Automatic AF-S/AF-C (AF-A), Manual focus (M)
Metering 420 pixel RGB sensor, 3D color matrix metering II
Metering range EV 0 to 20 (3D color matrix / CW), EV 2 to 20 (Spot)
Meter coupling CPU and AI CPU
Sensitivity ISO 100 – 1600, Up to ISO 3200 with boost
Auto ISO Selectable maximum ISO, Selectable minimum shutter speed
Shutter Electronically controlled vertical-travel focal plane shutter Shutter speed 30 to 1/4000 sec, Bulb
Flash sync 1/200 sec
Built-in flash Guide number 13 (ISO 100)
Wireless flash Nikon i-TTL, can act as commander
Continuous 3 fps, 23 / 6 frames (JPEG / RAW)
White balance Auto, 6 presets, Kelvin colour temperature, Manual preset (
Image presets Normal, Softer, Vivid, More Vivid, Portrait, B&W
High ISO NR Normal, Low, High, Off
Multiple exposures Yes
Viewfinder Eyepoint: 19.5 mm (at -1.0 m-1), Frame coverage 95% (approx.), Magnification approx. 0.94x, B-type Bright View Clear Matte II
LCD monitor 2.5″ TFT LCD, 230,000 pixel TFT, 170 degree viewing angle
Histogram Luminance & RGB histogram
USB USB 2.0 Hi-Speed (480 Mbps max.)
Storage SD / SD-HC card
Battery Lithium-Ion EN-EL3e (7.4 V, 1500 mAh)
Battery status Remaining charge (%), No. of shots taken since last charge, Battery life (5 stage) 3
Dimensions 132 x 103 x 77 mm (5.2 x 4.1 x 3.0 in)
Weight No battery: 585 g (1.3 lb)

Nikon

Some details of Sony’s eagerly-awaited debut into the dSLR market have begun to emerge online.

The Australian Digital Photography Blog website has revealed that Sony’s new Alpha 100 dDSLR will offer 10.2 million effective megapixels and be fitted with an APS-C size CCD sensor.

As previously announced, Sony’s first dSLR camera will use an updated lens mount compatible with Konica-Minolta Alpha/Maxxum/Dynax lenses, with Sony expected to reveal a slew of new Sony G lens using the highly regarded Carl Zeiss optics.

The camera is expected to carry a large 2.5 inch format Clear Photo LCD Plus Screen with AR coating and a resolution of 230,000 pixels.

The bright optical viewfinder comes with a Spherical Acute Matte screen, 20mm eye relief, 0.83x magnification, dioptre adjustment and an interesting EyeStart Auto focus.

This feature – inherited from Minolta -begins autofocus and auto-exposure as soon as it detects your peeper gazing through the viewfinder. Neat

The camera is also rumoured to be incorporating Sony’s Super SteadyShot Picture Stabilisation technology, which employs horizontal and vertical motion sensors located inside the lens assembly area.

Although there’s no firm details of pricing yet, some pundits are estimating a street price of $1,000 (body only) which places it in the highly competitive enthusiast market.

Other leaked details include an Anti-dust protection system (We like these – a lot!), 1600 ISO equivalent, Burst shooting, advanced flash modes and BIONZ Image Processing Engine.

The onboard high-speed autofocus is said to sport 4 focus modes – Single-shot AF; Direct Manual Focus; AF Automatic; AF Continuous – with centre-weighted, spot and 40-segment honeycomb pattern metering modes.

The Sony Alpha 100 looks to weigh in at 545g without battery, with dimensions of 94.7 x 133.1 x 71.3 mm (L x W x D).

We should point out that Sony don’t actually call it the ‘Alpha’ in print, preferring to use the arty squiggly symbol (a bit like popstar Prince and long forgotten 80s nobby band Freur), but we couldn’t be arsed to try and find that on our keyboards.

Sony is expected to make an official announcement about the Alpha 100 later this month, but if these tempting specs are on the money, Sony could be set to make a big splash in a market currently dominated by Canon and Nikon.

Digital Photography Blog
Sony dSLR

The HC3 has a tough act to follow – its own big brother, the HC1. Last year’s HC1 brought High Definition recording within the budget of almost any home movie-maker for the first time, and did it with assurance and style. Luckily, Sony hasn’t rested on its laurels, and the HC3 feels very much like a replacement for the HC1 rather than a mere upgrade.

For a start, the HC3 is 30% smaller and lighter than its predecessor, giving it the size and heft of a traditional MiniDV palmcorder. It shares the 2.7-inch touchscreen of the SR90, as well as a generous 123,000-pixel wide viewfinder if you need to save power. Like the HC1, it records 1080i High Def footage onto MiniDV tapes in the HDV format, although the HC3 has a brand new 1/3-inch 2MP CMOS sensor that Sony suggests will match the 3MP chip in the HC1. We didn’t have the opportunity to see full quality footage from the HC3 on a HD display.

Changes to the imaging pipeline have enabled Sony to offer a couple of new features in the HC3. The first is the ability to capture up to three 2MP still photos while filming (the images buffer until you stop recording). The second is Smooth Slow capture, where the capture rate increases from 50 to 200 fields per second for three seconds. Audio recording and the Super SteadyShot audio are disabled while you shoot. You can then play back this footage at a normal frame rate, giving 12 seconds of smooth slow motion footage.

The HC3 has an HDMI output (no cable supplied) and should manage around 105 minutes of recording using the supplied battery. Like the SR90, the HC3 has a flash unit rather than a video light, but a hot-shoe for accessories. But some of the HC1’s more advanced features are missing: manual shutter speeds, zoom ring and external microphone input among them.

The HC3 seems to be a worthy successor to the HC1: smaller, lighter and cheaper (£1,000). Our only concerns would be that the reduction in size of the CMOS sensor has affected image quality and that Sony is dumbing down its High Def offering for a mass audience. Despite these worries, the HC3 will almost certainly spearhead the assault of HD into the mainstream and that can be no bad thing.

Just when you thought Sony couldn’t add any more formats to its camcorder range (the electronics giant already carries MiniDV, MicroMV, Hi8, Digital 8 and DVD models), along comes a new hard disc camcorder (the DCR-SR90) and a re-vamped Hi Def pro-sumer shooter (HDR-HC3). We caught up with both at an exclusive hands- on presentation in London. Details of the Sony HDR-HC3 will follow tomorrow.

Sony DCR-SR90
The SR90 is going head-to-head with JVC’s well-established Everio range of hard disc camcorders, with which it shares many things in common. A 30Gb disc can store around seven hours of top quality MPEG-2 footage, although not, as yet, in High Defintion. The Sony’s 9Mbps maximum bit-rate just pips JVC’s 8.5Mbps, although we wouldn’t expect that to affect video quality noticeably. Both have hard drive drop protection and traditional palmcorder designs, although the SR90 is heavier and chunkier than JVC’s Everios – and even many of Sony’s MiniDV models.

Build quality is good, and is reflected in a specification that includes a Carl Zeiss T* 10x zoom, which zips between extremes silently and quickly, and a 3.3 megapixel CCD sensor (against the Everio’s 2MP chip). Although it’s a pity Sony opted for a photo flash rather than a video LED, there is at least a hot-shoe for adding a decent external light.

The interface is generally very good, with a 2.7-inch folding touchscreen ported straight from Sony’s MiniDV range, giving access to a good range of creative features, including true 16:9 recording.

Sony has also borrowed from its DVD camcorders, nicking a built-in microphone that encodes audio in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (although we didn’t get a chance to test this properly). Super SteadyShot is one of the industry’s better digital image stabilisers, and there are some digital effects on offer, too.

Playback features include basic editing tools that let you move scenes around but not cut or join them. Ease of use is emphasized with a One Touch DVD burn button for Windows computers with a DVD writer – just plug in via USB, slip in a disc and away you go.

Utilising the strengths of its traditional camcorders has helped Sony avoid the SR90 feeling like a ‘me too’ product. It might be priced a little higher (£850) than similar Everios but it offers a little more, too – if not yet the High Def recording that would have made it a must-have. A solid hard drive debut then, and it’s great to finally have some competition for JVC.

Sony America has launched a new digital camera today for the trendy party crowd, the 7.2-megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-T30.

Featuring Sony’s familiar sliding lens cover, the T30 measures a designer suit untroubling 90 x 54.8 x 20.2mm, with the 159g mass unlikely to add much bulk to the Gucci handbag.

Sony’s Super Steady Shot optical image stabilisation lets the camera keep on working late into the party, with a high ISO 1000 light sensitivity (coupled with Sony’s Clear RAW noise reduction system), allowing more natural, flash-less pics.

Introduced to the T-Series is a set of selectable colour modes allowing users to choose ‘natural mode’ for subtle colour variations or ‘vivid mode’ for more intense colours – great for reproducing the full range of hues of the pavement pizza at the end of the night.

Shutter lag with AF/AE is rated at a nippy 0.28 of a second, with the burst mode offering 5 shots at 1.1 frames per second – enough to capture a dramatic, alcohol-fuelled dance floor collapse.

Shot-to-shot interval is up on its predecessor, the T9, with the camera taking 1.4 seconds – the slower time a result of the larger files being saved.

Other features include a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 3x optical zoom (f3.5-4.5), a hefty 3 inch “Clear Photo LCD Plus screen” and 58MB of internal memory.

Images can be played back as a slide show option with music function, with the Memory Stick Duo offering up to two gigabytes of additional storage.

Powered by an InfoLithium battery, Sony are claiming up to 420 shots per full charge – nearly double the performance of previous T-series models.

The Cyber-shot DSC-T30 camera will be landing on store shelves in the US next month for around $500. There’s no news about the UK launch and price yet.

Specifications
Dimensions 3.7 x 2.2 x 0.9″, 95.0 x 56.5 x 23.3mm
Weight 169.0 g, 5.9 oz
Sensor Type 1/2.5″ CCD, 7.20 megapixels (effective)
Aspect Ratio 4:3, 3:2
Image Dimensions 3072 x 2304 (7.1 megapixels), 3072 x 2048 (6.3 megapixels), 2592 x 1944 (5.0 megapixels), 2048 x 1536 (3.1 megapixels), 1920 x 1080 (2.1 megapixels), 1632 x 1224 (2.0 megapixels), 640 x 480 (0.3 megapixels)
Capture Speed Continuous: 0.8 frames per second
Image Quality 2 levels
Viewfinder No
LCD 3.0″, 230,000 pixels
Playback Zoom 5.0x max
Lens Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar, 3x optical zoom
Image Stabilization Yes
Focal Length 6.3 – 19.0mm (actual), 38 – 114mm (35mm equivalent)
Aperture Range f/3.5 (wide) / f/4.3 (tele)
Focusing System 5-area Contrast detect with AF assist lamp
Manual Focus possible (5) steps
Focusing Range Normal: 20″ – infinity (50 cm – infinity)
Macro: 0.4″
ISO Sensitivity Auto, 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000
Shutter Speed 30 – 1/1000 second
Metering Modes Multi-pattern, Center-weighted, Spot
Exposure Compensation +/- 2.0EV in 1/3EV increments
White Balance Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Flash
Internal Flash Modes: Auto, Auto w/ Red-Eye Reduction, On, On w/ Red-Eye Reduction, Slow Synch, Slow Synch w/ Red-Eye Reduction, Off
Range: 0.3 – 11.2 ft, (0.1 – 3.4m)
Creative Scene Modes Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Landscape, Beach, Snow, Fireworks, High-Speed Shutter, Candle, Magnifying Glass (Super Macro), Soft Snap
Digital Zoom Precision 2x
Self Timer Yes, 2 or 10 seconds
Storage Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Built-in
File Format JPEG
Connectivity USB 1.1
Battery Type Lithium Ion rechargeable, Proprietary NP-FR1 InfoLITHIUM