Definitely looks interesting, just remember if you get one to turn the noise reduction down and set sharpening -2, then you will be rocking!

Default image quality is good, if not as crisp as the competition. However, if you play with the settings for a while, or more specifically turn Noise Filter off and set Sharpness to -2 (to compensate for the default high sharpening used to overcome the softening effect of the Noise Filter) you’ll see that the camera is capturing just as much detail (if not more) than other ten megapixel digital SLRs, and that the lens is more than up to the job too.

So what’s the final word? At the end of the day I found myself quite liking the E-410, it’s a grower that offers great value for money in a small compact package, has some real stand-out features and hasn’t been crippled to ‘fit into the range’ like similar models from other manufacturers. Just make sure you turn off the Noise Filter!

They seem to have fixed the overexposure issue too, looks like a nice camera. I’ll be looking forwards to see how the new Olympus E-510 EVOLT turns out.

I guess the downside is the lack of dynamic range, I would think this is due to their smaller than standard sensor size (remember Olympus has a 2x crop factor not 1.5x or 1.6x like Nikon or Canon).

Olympus E-410 EVOLT Review at DPReview

Check this out for some Bling.

Donwon Systems, Korean distributor of Pentax, presented ‘ASAHI PENTAX LX Gold’, world’s first water-proof and dust-resistant SLR camera which was specifically made to celebrate 60th anniversary of the company. The ASAHI PENTAX LX Gold was displayed together with ‘K10D’, Pentax’s newly launched 10-megapixels premium DSLR camera ‘K10D’ at a press event in Korea market.In 1980, shortly after Nikon introduced the third generation of the Nikon F3-series system camera, Asahi Optical Co. Ltd. Japan introduced a professional class system camera on their own; the Pentax LX .The year also coincided with 60th anniversary of the most respectful trade name and camera manufacturing business in the business-Pentax.

The Pentax LX gold was launched on August 25th, 1981 to celebrate the production of ten-millionth Pentax SLR camera. It was 18 carat gold plated with brown leather (also-called lizard skin or snake skin) and was equipped with an SMC Pentax f/1.2 50mm lens also with brown leather and gold finish.

The Pentax LX Gold package included a wooden box with red lining and white silk gloves to handle the camera without leaving fingerprints on the sensitive gold plating. Both the camera and the case were provided with golden carton boxes sporting 10million logo and 1981 lettering. Only 300 pieces of the LX Gold were manufactured, 200pcs for the Japanese home market and 100pcs for the international market. Serial numbers for the LX Gold ranged from XM001 to XM300 (XM meaning ten million).

After plenty of hot/cold and off on the Hoya – Pentax merger is set to go ahead.

Hoya will pay 105 billion Yen (approx. $860 million) for all outstanding Pentax shares. The deal could go ahead as soon as this weekt.

We fully expect this deal to strengthen Pentax’s position especially considering the growing importance of the lens market.

As described below, today, HOYA CORPORATION (“HOYA”) and PENTAX Corporation (“PENTAX”) have entered into an agreement to effect their management integration (the “Management Integration”) by making PENTAX into a wholly-owned subsidiary of HOYA through a tender offer by HOYA to purchase all shares of PENTAX (the “Tender Offer”) to be followed by a share exchange or other appropriate business reorganization transaction.

As announced in the press release titled “HOYA and PENTAX Reach Basic Understanding for Management Integration” dated December 21, 2006, of HOYA and PENTAX, based on the recognition that they are “the best possible business partners”, HOYA and PENTAX entered into a Basic Agreement for Merger (the “Basic Agreement”) on that date. This shared common understanding has remained constant. Notwithstanding our announcement by press release (by PENTAX on April 10, 2007 and HOYA on April 23, 2007) of our decision to abandon the merger planned for October 1, 2007 under the Basic Agreement, we have continued discussions on alternatives to the merger in order to achieve management integration and have consequently entered into this agreement.

Details of the Tender Offer and other related matters will be announced as soon as they become finalized.

Source: DPReview

After buying an SLR either with or without the kit lens most people look for a replacement, usually something with a constant f/2.8 aperture for brighter pictures and greater light gathering capabilities.

A good contender is the Tamron SP AF28-75mm F/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Lens, now isn’t that a mouthful?

Lens Construction (Groups/Elements) – 14/16
Angle of View – 75°-32°
Focal Length – 28mm to 75mm
Maximum Aperture – f/2.8
Diaphragm Blade Number – 7
Minimum Aperture – f/32
Minimum Focus – 0.33m (entire zoom range)
Macro Mag. Ratio – 1:3.9 (at 75mm)
Filter Diameter – 67mm
Weight – 510g
Diameter x Length – 73mm x 92mm
Accessories – Lens hood
Mount – Canon, Minolta-D, Nikon-D

These lenses also tend to be a lot sharper than the standard fare f/3.5-5.6 kit lenses sold with most cameras.

I had my eye on this lens for a while it seems like good walk around lens, it has a little longer range than most kit lenses (75mm vs 70mm) but it’s not as wide (28mm vs 18mm).

The difference between 18-28mm on the wide end is considerable, I did think it would be ok as I own a super wide 10-20mm lens which covers that range nicely.

I have to say though after trying, this is not the ideal range for crop form cameras, 28mm or even 24mm is just NOT wide enough.

This is an ideal lens for FF or Film cameras however.

Both Nikon and Canon do have lenses in this range (28-70mm) and this is a superb replacement for those if you can live with the widest being 28mm.

This is a really good f/2.8 lens for 1/3 the price of the Nikon and Canon equivalents.

As always I fully recommend you try it out and see what you think.

Reviews: Sample Images and Conclusion

The Tamron SP AF28-75mm F/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) Macro is a good lens. It’s well built, small, fast, light, sharp, flare resistant and affordable ($340 after rebate). It’s about 1lb lighter and $800 cheaper than the Canon 24-70/2.8L.

It does sharpen up a tad when stopped down from f2.8 to f4, but I’ve never seen an f2.8 (or faster) lens that didn’t get better when stopped down, so this really isn’t a strike against it. It’s a reflection of the difficulty of controlling aberrations in fast lenses.

Photo.net – Tamron SP AF28-75mm F/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Lens Review: Sample Images and Conclusion

Another Nikonian based in Japan, has reported that the prestigious Asahi Camera magazine tested the Tamron 28-75mm and it got 4 stars out of 5. Strangely enough their lab concluded edges are sharper at 75mm than the center.

Overall, Asahi Camera said this lens was very close in sharpness to the Nikkor, but there were huge inconsistencies in production. We have not been able to confirm this variation ourselves, however, if you buy this lens, buy it new and buy it locally so you can exchange it if you get a not so good sample, in case they do in fact exist.

Nikonians – Tamron SP 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di AF Zoom Lens

I can’t speak highly enough about this lense, extremely accurate, fast and sharp. It’s not as rugged as the comparable Canon L series lense (which I own) but it’s only about 1/3 the cost and my own controlled tests have shown it to outperform the Canon lense. It also has a smaller O.D. so fitting it with filters will cost less and is significantly lighter which helps when your hauling it around for long periods of time. My conclusion is this is a great lense for portraits, weddings and general photography, though I still perfer the Canon lense as the ultimate rugged field lense.

Amazon.com – Tamron Autofocus 28-75mm f2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF)

This is a very nice lens. I have a 70-200 4L IS and my tamron and L lens is side by side. very sharp all the way even at 2.8. This is a great walk around lens. Its on my 30D most of the time. I am surprised by the sharpness of this lens, its just a great deal for what its worth. check out my flickr for images from my tamron.

Fred Miranda – Tamron AF 28-75MM F/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF)