New Olympus E-520 DSLR, Zuiko ED 9-18mm lens

In the same fashion that the Olympus E-420 replaced the E-410, now comes the E-520 to replace the E-510. As expected, improvements are incremental and overall the E-520 is a better product with better developed features and additions: (continued)

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Reviews of Olympus 12-60mm/f2.8-4.0 & 14-42mm/f3.5-5.6 lens by dpreview

In DSLR systems, lens is as important as the body. Professional choices are largely based not only on megapixels and body features, but also -sometimes mainly- on what lens ranges have to offer. Olympus understands this very well and given that its DSLR system was built from the ground up, a lot of good lens had to be developed to fill all requirements. The two lens reviewed by dpreview are the 12-60mm/f2.8-4.0 and the 14-42mm/f3.5-5.6, both belonging to the all-useful middle range for everyday use.

Without a doubt the 12-60mm/f2.8-4.0 is the star of the new Olympus lens, with a compact high-tech design that is in 35mm terms equivalent to 24-120mm. This means that it covers very satisfactory wide angles and also gets in telezoom fields, covering an incredibly rich range for a wide range of photographic applications. Designed to accompany the new E-3, it is no surprise that its quality of assembly, super-wide range and high quality results get it a review rating of ”highly recommended” and a description of “superb lens”.

Olympus E-420 world’s smallest DSLR

Olympus decided it was time to replace its entry E-410 DSLR with an update unsurprisingly called E-420. Specifications are not changing by much, but still there is interesting features, attractive to the photography enthusiast:

• Smallest DSLR in the world. Although smaller to the E-410 by very little, the E-420 is a beautiful combination of DSLR functionality and convenient dimensions for travel or off-the-beaten-track photography.
• Live view that can be nicely combined with the large 2.7 inch screen to give compact-like picture taking if it is so wished.
• Dust reduction.
• Frame rate increased from 3 to 3.5 fps and buffer capacity of 9 RAW frames.
• ISO 100-1600.

New DSLR cameras coming in PMA 2008

Tired of CES and Macworld yet? Time for something more focused, because PMA is no generalist show but concentrates exclusively on imaging stuff. I am not going to deal with compacts at all, as models change with the the frequency of weather changes, I am going to concentrate on my favourite part of the show, DSLR cameras :-) There is already wind of new DSLR models for the show, the timing is quite critical as 2008 is going to be good for this segment and fierce competition is a certainty.

Canon is going to reveal its 450D/Rebel XSi that will replace its current 400D/XTi. With 12 megapixel resolution, a larger viewfinder, live view, spot metering, 3 inch screen, 14-bit processing and high ISO noise reduction it is a definite improvement but times are changing and the competition is not as weak as in previous years… A point to note is that resolution is higher than the 10 Mp of the more expensive and capable 40D, a case of dismay among Canon customers expressed vocally in the past with the 400D/XTi and the 30D.

Tech developments I would like to see in 2008!

Now that 2008 is only a couple of days away is the right time to write about the developments I would like to see. I am not in favour of votes for the best of each category of 2007. We have all bought and used stuff this last year, we have also already done our choices for Christmas, so what’s the point? After all these things are so much down to personal taste that it is hard to announce a single product or site as the best in its category and clearly above everything else. So many CPU cycles have been devoted to Facebook vs MySpace & iPhone vs Nokia N95 type stories that I think a bit more of that would be overkill. So summarising thoughts from previous posts and by also adding some new ones, here is the things that I would love to see happening in 2008:

• Good, reliable, fast internet access, both wired and wireless. The wired part is getting better briskly. But for wireless still a lot has to be done… 
• Some compatibility between social networks. What is happening now is crazy and exhausting. Separate accounts, separate contacts, separate everything for each one of them. When for example Yahoo and MSN made their messengers compatible -even with limited inter-functionality- it was a great relief for me.