new new digital camera…

D-40X with 18-55 and 55-200mm – which, because the camera is not full-frame (thanks to Luca for explaining me this bit), in fact are more like 24-70, and 70-300. Even better for naturalistic photography. I found it for 989 EUR at the Carrefour near home. The D-40 with the same objectives goes for 649 EUR, and the only difference is a 6Mpizel sensor rather than a 10Mpixel.

That’s a steep price hike for just the sensor (as far as I can tell, the rest is absolutely the same). Plus I have the doubt that less resolution may actually improve the quality by diminishing the noise. less elements for the same size, means larger elements, so more light per pixel. And I’ve had lots of troubles with the new TZ-3 because of low luminosity.

So… May be the old new digital camera is better. And cheaper. Mah?

A New Digital Camera?

After only a few months with the DMC TZ-3? Yes.

It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s a great camera, its seamless 28-280mm zoom is fantastic, but… there is always a but with me… the noise introduced by the chip messes up everything, I feel like my old nikopn gets better pictures after all, plus in darkness without a viewfinder the large LCD screen is a pain to use. I am pondering now on a big step, that is, to get a real SLR body with a good lens to start with.

Nikon, since I still love the little coolpix, plus the fact that my father has one so we could share lenses and stuff.

Probably the d40, or the d40x if I can cough up the cash.

The only thing I don’t understand is whether the lenses works as in 35mm film cameras, or the 18-55mm is really more of a 24-70mm. Anyone who can tell me more?

My new camera has arrived!!!

I say goodbye to my old and battery-incontinent Nikon CoolPix 2100, who served me well for four years and still is in perfect operating conditions, exception made for the fact that a plastic flap has broken and she can’t keep her batteries inside any longer. I will be happy to use it again underwater, if I only could find the waterproff case which costed me almost as much as the camera itself.

from now on, however, my main camera will be a Panasonic DMC TZ-3 (blue), one of the best long-zoom compact cameras one can find on the market.

very small ibn size, with hi quality Leica lenses and a formidable 28-280mm equivalent, it goes flawlessly from wide to tele. haven’t had the ocasion to try it yet, yesterday I left the batteries to charge.

Tonight I plan on trying it out in some inside shots, followed by outdoor shots in the following days. But she’ll have her camp day in one month, when I’ll hop on the plane to visit Rwanda!

DMC-FZ18 Reviews, finally!!!

I have finally found some reviews of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18. Here, and here. I am sold. I am ordering it as soon as I can from the US, together with a DMC-TZ3 for my lady. I still can’t understand why prices in the EU are so outrageous, with the TZ3 costing 400 Euros and well below 300 US$ on the other side of the pond. Even counting in taxes, it still makes no sense.

Stay tuned for my next pictures, probably starting with my trip to Rwanda at year’s end.

A new Contender

to the title of gufodotto’s camera of the next years:

Panasonic DMC-FZ18

Tuesday, 24 July 2007 08:00 GMT

Next >

In addition to two new ‘pocketable’ compacts Panasonic has revealed the latest FZ series ’super zoom’ model, the eighteen times optical zoom FZ18. This camera mates its (tiny) eight megapixel CCD to a lens which provides the equivalent of 28 to 504 mm on a 35 mm camera, plus it’s optical image stabilization. Just like the compacts the FZ18 gets ‘Intelligent Auto Mode’ and automatic LCD backlight control. The FZ18 is (on paper) a compelling option considering how much glass you’d have to carry around to match it with a digital SLR (ignoring other factors such as high ISO performance, lens quality and focusing speed).

Jump to:

• Press Release
• Specifications

Press Release:

Panasonic’s DMC-FZ18

Snapped from DPreview.

Which super zoom digicam to choose?

Ok, here I am with my new dilemma. My old Nikon Coolpix is kicking the bucket, as the battery flap lost the hinge and keeps popping open. I love the camera but it’s become unreliable, and frankly speaking I would like something which pucks some more punch, especially at the telephoto end. Plus, all the usual needs such as higher resolution (not really), better image quality and so on. A big lens would also helps in low light at short distances, I hope, another of the weak points.
Anyway, my alltime favorite was a konica-Minolta Dimage Z-X (X=2,3,5…) but apparently they’re discontinued.

So I have to hunt for a substitute – my requisites are:

1. at least a 12X Zoom, ’cause I want to take picture of squirrel far away. Plus, going to Africa in December, I don’t want to have to get TOO close to lions and hippos to take a decent shot.
2. AA Batteries, if I can, and SD Cards too. I don’t want difficult and expensive proprietary formats such as xD cards (understood, Fuji and Olympus?) nor Memory Sticks (Sony? Drop them!). Ditto for batteries. If I run out of juice I want to be able to spend 10Euros for a new pack, not 40. Damn!
3. Oh, Video + Audio (stereo if I am not asking too much) would be good, availability of an underwater case (although I can still use the old one for diving, if I can find the case again)

and now, the candidates:

• Olympus SP-550 UZ, with its big-ass 18x optical zoom

• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9, good 15x and swivelling screen

• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H7, good 15x but no swivelling screen

• Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8, only 12x may be but it’s a Leica and has lots of features

• Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3, tiny, pocket-friendly camera with a Leica 10x (!)

• Canon PowerShot S3, highly recommended and successful but a tad older

• Canon PowerShot S5 is the new model but it’s getting mixed reviews and it’s more expensive.

There’s also some unlikely outsiders:

• Fujifilm Finepix S6000fd / S6500fd which went in don’t remember why, though

• Canon PowerShot TX1, HD camcorder and camera at once but boh…

As you may have noticed, most of them have SLR-like bodies but can’t swap lenses. I am too lazy for this I just want a camera with a good zoom, for nature and travel pictures. Macro is important but am not an expert so manual modes and all those jargon-priority leave me baffled. I do not plan on printing the piccies but I definitely want to look at them on a 20″ HD LCD screen. Other people would probably get my shows through Picasa.

Please help me out. I already have had some feedback but want some more unbiased, from expert and not so. Voice your opinion and thanks in advance!

Post, post, post

Posto, ergo sum.

Traffic has gone down considerably, I can only imagine why. My average number of posts x day has decreased even more dramatically.

It’s not that I don’t know what to post about, it’s just that I’m damn busy with so many things and don’t have the time to share. I don’t even have the time, most of the days, to check my blogs of interest, if not in a very cursory way.

coming up: which super-zoom digicam should I buy?

New piccies

New piccies are online:

Pasqua07-Pranzo

I found back my digicam

so may be am not going to buy a new one. or may be I am. the one I already have I can keep for rugged experiences, like biking, diving (have the underwater shell) and so on. The new one I will use for serious things, like parties, but also photographically worth subjects. Woah, I know I’ll end up using the new one most of the times. Mostly ’cause I’m interested in nature photography, and it’s when I am in trekking or other kind of hiking that I can get nice shots. No?

Anyway, I’ll have to buy a new compact flash since the old one got lost God knows where.

No, not this one…

As I said before, I have been tinkering with the idea of getting a new digicam; my thoughts initially converged on the cool-looking nikon s10. The swiveling body is particularly attractive – but it has some things I don’t like. mainly, the battery is a proprietary LiIon thingy, and this means that I’ll have to use their own charger rather than carry with me my AA/AAA charger – one more charger and so on. I am nitpicking I know.

Anyway, I love the idea of having a “real” SLR, with interchangeable objectives if possible – although this will make it less cumbersome, therefore less likely to be lugged around when on a bike trip or such.

mah… I’ll check some more p/review before taking a plunge. Anyway, I can survive without. Especially since I haven’t noticed that my digicam was missing until now, one month and more after using it. And that i do not plan to go anywhere particularly interesting before some months. It’s not like the price of these things is going to spike – ah ah.