I'm a fan of photography. I don't take good pictures (hopeless!!), but sure do appreciate great photos and the cool gear that helps capture those photos.
And being a photography enthusiast means this is the best time of the year... yeah, Photokina! That's like the E3 of gaming... the Detroit motor show of cars.... the... well, you get the picture.
However, in the recent years, the stuff that get dished out at Photokina is nothing to really go ga-ga over. The manufacturers keep on cramming more megapixels into the sensors, they try to out-do each other with evolutionery and me-too features... BORING!
But this year, things got really exciting!
If you read my previous blogs on digital cameras, you'd hear me bemoan (here, here and here!) the tiny and noisy chips in Panasonic Lumix cameras. I had been wishing out loud that Panny woudl stop the silly megapixel race and focus on making their wonderfully small and featurefull cameras with larger and better chips.
Lo and behold, 2 surprises came...
1) Panasonic introduces its first micro four-thirds digital SLR prototype, the G1. The whaaa? Picture this:
The micro four-thirds DSLR : everything smaller except the sensor!
Then, things got even more exciting!
2) Canon announces its mother of all compact super zoom... the Powershot SX1 and SX10
Read more about this amazing camera here, here and here.
Sorry, Panny, but I may have a new favourite hottie now.... !!
And being a photography enthusiast means this is the best time of the year... yeah, Photokina! That's like the E3 of gaming... the Detroit motor show of cars.... the... well, you get the picture.
However, in the recent years, the stuff that get dished out at Photokina is nothing to really go ga-ga over. The manufacturers keep on cramming more megapixels into the sensors, they try to out-do each other with evolutionery and me-too features... BORING!
But this year, things got really exciting!
If you read my previous blogs on digital cameras, you'd hear me bemoan (here, here and here!) the tiny and noisy chips in Panasonic Lumix cameras. I had been wishing out loud that Panny woudl stop the silly megapixel race and focus on making their wonderfully small and featurefull cameras with larger and better chips.
Lo and behold, 2 surprises came...
1) Panasonic introduces its first micro four-thirds digital SLR prototype, the G1. The whaaa? Picture this:
- Its like an SLR, with interchangeable lenses, but the body, lenses - everything - is much much smaller
- They do away with the flip mirror and the prism, and in the process gives true live-view
- The heart - sensor - of the camera is still a proper SLR-sized four thirds CCD.. so there is no compromise there
The traditional four-thirds DSLR: note the mirror and pentaprism
The micro four-thirds DSLR : everything smaller except the sensor!Then, things got even more exciting!
2) Canon announces its mother of all compact super zoom... the Powershot SX1 and SX10
- It finally has a really great camera that starts of with 28mm
- It has an optical image stabilized 20x zoom, with super fast and silent mechanism that beats the stuffings out of the competition
- Ths SX1 has Canon's excellent CMOS CCD.... with a bonus that it can shoot at a lightning speed of 4 frames per second!
- It does away with even top-end consumer video cameras by being able to shoot videos at FULL HD
- On paper... the features are really top notch.... can't wait to test it out when it's finally available here!
- The only thing is the price.... no idea how much is it going to cost in Malaysia .. but it does look like its going to encroach quite deeply into DLSR country ... and may (hopefully not) end up with a very niche market..?
Read more about this amazing camera here, here and here.
Sorry, Panny, but I may have a new favourite hottie now.... !!
