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› archive for December 15th, 2008

EX-F1

Nope, not a typical HD camcorderOK, so, I mentioned this camera some time ago, and now I get to proudly say that it is in fact up on our site. Not in stock just yet, but soon.

So, for those who missed it, why am I bothering to talk about what looks for all the world like a run-of-the-mill ultra-zoom SLR-like compact? Well, this isn’t your usual camera. No sir (or ma’am), this is a 60 fps 6 megapixel slideshow monster. And, in case that wasn’t impressive enough, it has full HD video, making it a flexible HD camcorder that can be used in A, S, or even M mode like and SLR.

Still not enough? OK. I saved the best for last. At the cost of resolution, it can shoot video at up to 1200 frames per second. Yup, 1200. That’s what we in the camera business like to call “a whole freaking lot” of frames per second. How much do you lose? Check out this video from Casio’s site: http://www.exilim.com/intl/ex_f1/mov04.html

Once you’re convinced that this is, in fact, the camera that’ll help you improve your backswing or free-throw form, head on over here and let us know you want one when we get them.



So, We’re Plugging the E-410

As you may have noticed, we’re plugging the heck out of the E-410 Olympus digital camera these days. Which I’m OK with, actually. But, I’m totally biased, since the E-410 was my first digital camera, and one I used for most of a year.

When I bought it it had a gimmicky little feature called “LiveView” and was the DSLR in years to offer it. And while the implementation of LiveView isn’t as fast for focusing as the viewfinder, it does allow easy framing and exposure simulation right there on the LCD, and it’s precision focus feature is a dead boon for studio work.

Shot with an E-410 and 14-42mm, raw
My dad has it now, and he enjoys the heck out of it. Whenever I’m out to visit I like to pick it up and remember just how lightweight that little camera and its lenses are. And, I’m often trolling through my Lightroom photos and I’ll stumble across very astounding shots I keep forgetting I took with an E-410. If you’re a RAW shooter, you can safely ignore any criticism of this camera’s dynamic range you’ve read. The shot of my dog from the beginning of this post was shot with an E-410 and 14-42 in the middle of the day, camera pointed to the early-afternoon sky and a white dog. The preview in the camera blew the sky to white, but it took maybe 30 seconds in RAW to pull the light blue and fluffy clouds back.

Now, please, don’t get me wrong. I’ve seen equally stellar work from Canon digital EOS Rebel models and the A300 Sony digital cameras can do some breath-taking work. What I’m trying to say is don’t always believe the empirical tests online, these so-called “lower end” digital SLRs are capable of the best photos you’ve ever taken. So, trust a good deal and give that 300 buck E-410 kit another look. Hey, we’ll even throw in a 2 GB memory drive.

If you’re still fence-sitting, go here and see what can be done with nothing more than this kit: http://dingobearfoto.blogspot.com/



Hot Sensors

This past weekend I had to nip down to Florida for my grandmother’s 80th birthday, I unfortunately didn’t get any of the three days I was down to myself for shooting, but Saturday I had the honor of pulling a fairly lengthy five-six hour session to document that fairly important milestone in my grandmother’s life. It was a long day, and I had to keep bouncing between my good portrait lens and a more reasonable standard zoom for getting wide shots indoors.

Even with my typically minimalist shooting style (I prefer to cherry-pick when I take shots instead of machine-gunning), I managed to burn through my usually ample compact flash memory cards and filled my old emergency microdrive too.

But, my favorite part had to be when I finally pushed my Olympus digital camera to its limit and it made me turn it off for a moment to let the sensor cool down some. I’ve used an E-3 on and off for about 10 months now, and it took a family reunion to push it to the edge.

That oughtta tell you something about my family reunions. I’ll try and get a Florida shot or two up once I have a chance to finally get home and work through these shots.




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