Micro Four Thirds, Olympus PEN and Panasonic GF1 - an overview

Rik Fairlie had an article posted at NYTimes about the Micro Four Thirds standard, the Olympus E-P1, E-P2, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 and the other options currently available, here's what he has to say:

“The ‘R’ in D.S.L.R. refers to the reflex of the mirror,” said Sally Smith Clemens, a product manager for Olympus. “Without a mirror box, it’s not a D.S.L.R.”
The want of a mirror means that Micro Four Thirds cameras are more compact and lighter than D.S.L.R.’s, yet they produce better photographs than point-and-shoots because they have a larger image sensor. As a rule of thumb, larger sensors deliver better photos because they have greater light-gathering capabilities. But that generalization is not absolute, because factors like the camera’s image processor and lens quality also come into play.

Buy the Olympus PEN E-P1 12.3 MP Micro Four Thirds Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens (Silver Body/Black Lens)

Read the full Micro Four Thirds article at NYTimes.com

Canon Touch-Screen DSLR coming?

The image actually appears in US Patent Application No. 12/422,695, which was originally filed by Canon on April 13, 2009 and published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on October 22, 2009.

So, what can we learn from the patent?

Well, the patent is only 13 pages long (that’s a bit short for most of Canon’s patents that I’ve read) and does not cover claims that are specific to the overall touchscreen interface.  Instead, the patent primarily covers claims relating to accidentally touching parts of the touchscreen when bringing the camera to your eye in order to look through the viewfinder.
Specifically, the camera is supposed to allow users to register their dominant eye.  The photographer will input whether it is the left or right eye. Then the camera will detect the registered eye when it is brought to the viewfinder.  At that point, the camera will disable a portion of the touchscreen that would likely be touched by your face and, therefore, prevent any setting changes.  Also, note that the patent covers the possibility that the camera may automatically detect which eye is brought to the viewfinder and disable the appropriate portion of the LCD.
The diagonal hatching lines in the above image show the portion of the screen that is disabled, depending on which eye is registered with the camera.

Images and news via Photography Bay

Pentax K-x vs Sony Alpha 550 reviewed

Tom's Guide has a new review form Digital Versus, comparing the Pentax K-x and Sony Alpha 550, also noting differences between the Pentax K-m and K-x.

A year after Pentax released its highly rated K-m, there is a new entry-level DSLR with the K-x. The two cameras are very similar, with the exception of one major change. The old 10 Megapixel CCD sensor is out, and a new 12 Megapixel CMOS sensor is in. So what we expect is a comfortable, pleasant-to-use little SLR with improved sensitivity.

Among DSLRs, the K-x is up there with the best of the moment. Start-up is instantaneous, focusing is fast (but noisy with the kit 18-55 mm DA L lens), and so is image saving... provided you don’t enable the optical correction functions, which cause a delay of approximately three seconds when saving files! But since the same corrections exist in photo-retouching software, it may be better to leave them up to the computer. Burst mode is fairly fast, at 4.5 frames per second for nine JPEG images – an excellent result for an entry-level camera.

Buy the Pentax K-x 12.4 MP Digital SLR with 2.7-inch LCD and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL Lens (Black)

With their new A500/A550 DSLRs, Sony has new models to compete with the benchmark SLRs of the moment, namely the Nikon D90 and Canon T1i. The A550 has a wealth of features aimed at winning over photographers: a 14.2 MP EXMOR CMOS sensor, a burst speed of five frames per second, Live View with fast autofocus, and tilting display screen, among other things.

Buy the Sony Alpha DSLR-A550L 14.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm Lens

Read the full review at tomsguide.com

 Pentax K-x Specs

Type		TTL autofocus, auto-exposure digital SLR digital-still camera with built-in retractable P-TTL auto pop-up flash
Effective Pixels		approx. 12.4 megapixels
Image Sensor	Total pixels	approx. 12.9 megapixels
	Type	CMOS with a primary color filter
	Size	23.6mm x 15.8mm
Recorded Pixels	Still Picture	JPEG: [12M] 4288x2848 pixels, [10M] 3936x2624 pixels, [6M] 3072x2048 pixels, [2M] 1728x1152 pixels RAW: [12M] 4288x2848 pixels
	Movie	[0.9M] 1280x720, 16:9, [0.3M] 640x416, 3:2
Sensitivity ( Standard output sensitivity )		Auto, Manual: 200-6400 (1EV steps or 1/2EV steps or 1/3EV steps) Bulb mode: up to ISO1600, Could be expanded to ISO 100-12800
Recording Format	Still Picture	RAW (Original/DNG), JPEG (Conforms to Exif 2.21), Conforms to DCF (Design rule of Camera File system) 2.0
	Movie	Motion JPEG (AVI) 24FPS
Image Formats		JPEG - Baseline (: Best, : Better, : Good) RAW (12bit) (PEF, DNG ) RAW+JPEG: available
Storage Media		SD memory card , SDHC memory card
White Balance		Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten Light, Fluorescent Light (W, D, N, L (Light Bulb) ), Flash, CTE, Manual setting, with WB fine adjustment
Viewfinder	Type	Fixed molded penta-mirror type
	Focusing screen	Natural-Bright-Matte II focusing screen
	Field of view	approx. 96%
	Magnification	approx. 0.85X (with 50mm F1.4 lens, infinity, -1m-1)
	Diopter adjustment	approx. -2.5 - +1.5m-1
Live View	Type	TTL by Image sensor
	Display	Enlargement (2X, 4X, 6X in case of AF mode, 2X, 4X, 6X, 8X, 10X in case of MF mode), Grid pattern, white/black out warning display, Histogram display
	Autofocus Mode	Contrast detection + Face detection / Contrast detection / Phase difference detection
Monitor	Type	TFT color LCD monitor, Brightness adjustable, Wide angle view
	Size	2.7 inch
	Dots	approx. 230,000 dots
Preview Method		Optical/Digital preview *This function can be allocated to green button through Menu.
Playback		Single frame, 4-image display, 9-image display, 16-image display, 36-image display, Zoom display (up to 16 times, scrolling possible), Image comparison, Rotating, Folder, Calendar, Slideshow, Histogram, Bright/Dark area, Resize, Trimming, Index
Digital Filter		Rec. mode: Toy camera, High contrast, Soft, Star burst, Retro, Extract color, Fish eye, Custom Playback: Toy camera, High contrast, Soft, Star burst, Retro, Extract color, Illustration(Pastel, Water color), Fish Eye, HDR, B&W, Sepia, Color, Slim, Miniature, Brightness, Base Tweaking, Custom
Focusing System	Type	TTL phase difference detection, 11-point wide autofocus system (SAFOX VIII)
	Focus Mode	AF.A(auto), AF.S(single, with focus lock), AF-C(continuous)*, Manual focus * Auto Picture and Picture mode: only when the Action mode is selected. * Scene mode: only when the Kids, Pet, Stage lighting and Night snap mode are selected. * P/Sv/Tv/Av/M/B: AF.A, AF.S or AF.C selectable
	Focus Point	5-point auto, 11-point auto, AF point select, Center
	AF assist lamp	avaiable (by Built-in Flash)
Exposure Control	Metering System	TTL open-aperture 16-segment metering (coupled with lens and AF information)
	Metering Mode	(1) Multi-segment metering (2) Center-weighted metering (3) Spot metering
	Exposure Range	EV1-21.5 (Standard Output Sensitivity 200 50mmF1.4)
	Modes	(1) Auto Picture mode (2) Picture mode (3) Scene mode (4) Program AE (5) Sensitivity-Priority AE (6) Shutter-Priority AE (7) Aperture-Priority AE (8) Metered Manual (9) Bulb Picture mode: Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Action, Night scene portrait, Standard Flash-Off Scene mode: Night Scene, Surf & Snow, Food, Sunset, Kids, Pet, Candlelight, Museum, Stage lighting*, Night snap* *The image is fixed to only JPEG.
	Exposure Compensation	±3EV (0.5EV steps or 0.3EV steps)
	Auto-bracketing	3 frames within range of ±0.5EV, ±1.0EV, ±1.5EV (0.5EV steps) or ±0.3EV, ±0.7EV, ±1.0EV (0.3EV steps)
	AE Lock	This function can be allocated to AF button in Menu.
Shutter	Shutter Type	Electronically controlled vertical-run focal plane shutter
	Shutter Speed	Auto: 1/6000 - 30 sec. and bulb, Manual: 1/6000 - 30 sec., and bulb
Drive Modes	Continuous shooting	Single-frame , Continuous (Hi, Lo), Self-timer (12s, 2s), Remote control (0s, 3s), Auto bracket approx. 4.7 fps, sequence: 17 frame (JPEG and Continuous (Hi)) 5 frame (RAW) approx. 2 fps , sequence: until the memory card becomes full (JPEG and Continuous (Lo)) 11 frame (RAW)
Built-in flash	Type	Built-in retractable P-TTL pop-up flash
	Guide number	approx. 16 (Standard Output Sensitivity 200/m) 12 (Standard Output Sensitivity 100/m)
	Angle of view coverage	28mm wide-angle (equivalent to 35mm)
	Flash Exposure Compensation	-2 EV - +1EV (1/2EV steps)
Flash Synchronization		Hot shoe, sync-speed: 1/180 sec., P-TTL, high-speed-sync, wireless-sync with PENTAX dedicated flash
Image Stabilizer	Type	Image sensor shift mechanism, Max 4 steps
Dust Removal	Type	Image sensor moving mechanism and SP Coating
Time	World Time	75 cities (28 time zones)
Data Folder	Folder Name	Date (100_MMDD•••), PENTX (100PENTX, 101PENTX•••)
Power Sources		Four AA (lithium, alkaline, and rechargeable Ni-MH) batteries Optional AC adapter also available.
Battery Life	Number of recordable images (Lithium)	approx. 1900 (Normal Recording)*2 , 1100 (50% use Flash)*1
	Playback time	approx. 680 minutes*2
	Number of recordable images (Ni-MH 1900mAh)	approx. 640 (Normal Recording)*2 , 420 (50% use Flash)*1
	Playback time	approx. 390 minutes*2
	Number of recordable images (Alkaline)	approx. 210 (Normal Recording)*2 , 130 (50% use Flash)*1
	Playback time	approx. 350 minutes*2
Interfaces		USB/Video USB 2.0 (HI-SPEED)
Video Output		Compatible with NTSC and PAL formats
Lens Mount		PENTAX KAF2 bayonet mount
Usable Lens		PENTAX KAF3-, KAF2-, KAF-, and KA-mount lenses. * Power zoom function is not available. K-mount lenses usable with restrictions. S-mount lenses, 67/645 lenses usable with adapter and with restrictions.
Dimensions		approx. 122.5(W) x 91.5(H) x 67.5(D)mm (4.8 x 3.6 x 2.7 inches)
Weight		approx. 515g (18.2 oz.) without battery and SD memory card approx. 580g (20.5 oz.) loaded and ready with lithium battery and SD memory card approx. 615g (21.7 oz.) loaded and ready with alkaline battery and SD memory card
Included accessories		USB cable I-USB7 , Strap O-ST53 , AA lithium battey 4pcs. , CD-ROM S-SW99 Eyecup FQ , Hot shoe cover FK, Body mount cover
Bundle software		PENTAX Digital Camera Utility 4.0