There will be two kits, body only for $800 and one with a starter 18-55mm lens for $900

• 12.2 megapixel CMOS sensor
• SD/SDHC cards
• Larger viewfinder
• Live view mode, including contrast-detect AF
• Improved 9-point AF system
• Spot metering
• 3.0″ LCD monitor
• Continuous shooting at 3.5fps for up to 53 JPEG (6 RAW)

Finally Canon’s entry level cameras has spot metering! Something that has been missing (and rather important) for quite some time.

It’s also Canon’s first camera to use only SD cards (Supports SDHC).

Read the full release here:

Canon EOS 450D / Rebel XSi brief hands-on

What a lot of announcements lately with the Canon and Nikon offerings, Sony comes up soon after.

• 12.2 Megapixel CMOS
• New AF Sensor
• Faster Focusing
• High Speed Shutter
• Anti-blur
• Pentaprism Viewfinder
• Weather sealed
• 3″ LCD
• HD 1080 Output
• Wireless Remote Included
• New Kit Lens DT 16-105mm F3.5-5.6 with Internal Focus

Like the A100, the new camera still wears its Konica Minolta heritage very much on its sleeve, and when you start to look a little more closely at the specification it’s obvious that there’s still an awful lot of Konica Minolta DNA in the A700. This is hardly surprising given that the circumstances behind its development.

And, just as the A100 was obviously based on – and designed to be a successor to – the KM 5D, the A700 follows on from the 7D, and – despite lots of Sony touches and an attractive new design – 7D users are likely to find using the new model reassuringly familiar.

Albert has a good post about it here too:

The New Sony Alpha 700!

It seems it’s much as expected, fantastic Dynamic Range, but slow, slow AF and slow shooting speed. Definitely not for sports or wildlife shooters.

A good camera for skin tones though, excellent white balance (with the new firmware) and very good rendition of highlight details.

No bunching up on the histogram like normal digital camera, apparently it has wide ‘shoulders’ and gives more leeway like film.

It also has pretty interesting film simulation modes.

If you shoot in the studio, or you do a lot of portraits and wedding, and don’t like post-processing much, this could be the camera for you.

Although many might say the Canon 5D might be a better choice.

You can find some sample pictures here and here.

Fuji S5 Pro vs D200 Dynamic Range Test.

Fuji Finepix S5 Pro Experience Report

Overall we find the Fuji S5 a very exciting camera. The highlight extension paired with excellent noise characteristics raise the bar for image quality and shows that not only Megapixels matter.

Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro CNET Editor’s Review

The bottom line: While a wide dynamic range lets it serve up tons of highlight detail and impressive overall image quality, the S5 Pro isn’t for high-speed sports photography, and it could use more resolution.

Popular Photography – Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro

But this is not really a sports shooter’s camera. The S5 will no doubt please its intended audience — wedding and portrait shooters. The bigger question is whether it will appeal to the broader market of serious amateur photographers. Actually, we think it will. A lot.

Fuji FinePix S5 Pro Digital Camera Body Only

The Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro’s image quality makes it a viable choice for pros and other quality-conscious photographers. Dynamic range, noise and color are all excellent. The S5′s mechanicals – a Nikon D200 body, with Nikon autofocus, metering and flash – are also big assets. The drawbacks of the S2 and S3 bodies are gone.

Sensor cleaning is becoming a standard feature on modern digital SLR cameras. While the manufacturers may use different techniques to get rid of the dust from the image sensor, they all promise clean, dust free images. Do they all work equally well? Can we throw our air blower away? We have tested the four different types of sensor cleaning technologies to see which one will most likely to fulfill the expectations.

I was quite surprised with the results, and how badly they all performed. It turns out they are all pretty much useless when it comes to cleaning/dust removal. Only the Olympus fared reasonably.

Here is our ranking according to effectiveness:

1. Olympus: good
2. Canon: poor (we are disappointed)
3. Pentax and Sony: useless (we are very disappointed)

If you are looking for a camera, have the dust removal as an expectation only at the end of your list. If sensor cleaning / dust removal is a must, the choices are limited to Olympus and Panasonic cameras.

Read the full test here:

Review: Dust removal systems / sensor cleaning

It shows consumers really do still want more Megapixels and the 6 Megapixel D40 kept a lot of people on the fence with it’s competition already at 10 Megapixels.

The new D40x shares the same 10.2 Megapixel sensor as the D80 and D200, has a faster burst mode (up to 3fps) and has an extended ISO range of 100 to 3200.

The Nikon D40X measures 126.0 x 94.0 x 64.0mm and weighs 481 grams.

The Nikon D40X will have a retail price of $729.95 USD when it ships in April. Alternatively you can bundle it with a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor lens for $799.95 USD.

That should make it around RM2500 with the kit lens!

Full details here:

Nikon D40x

What a beast!

It makes me really wonder what Nikon is going to come out with this year…D3x, D300? D3h?

Specifications

• World’s fastest AF DSLR with approximately 10 fps continuous shooting in One-Shot AF or AI Servo AF
• Maximum burst (JPEG Large, compression level approximately 110 shots; RAW, approximately 30 shots (based on Canon’s testing standards)
• Dual DIGIC III Image Processors for fine detail, natural color reproduction and high-speed performance
• ISO 100-3200 with ISO speed extension, L= 50, H = 6400
• Live View in camera and remote, wired and wireless
• New 45-point Area AF sensor with 19 high-precision, cross-type points (f/2.8 compatible), 26 standard-precision AssistAF points
• New AF point selection methods
• AF micro-adjustment (fine adjustment of AF point of focus)
• New methods of AF point expansion during manual AF point selection

• New 10.1-megapixel CMOSsensor, APS-H size
• Professional EOS Integrated Cleaning System with Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit, Dust Delete Data acquisition
• RAW, sRAW (new SmallRAW), RAW+JPEG, sRAW+JPEG, JPEG+JPEG simultaneous recording
• Increased shutter durability of approximately 300,000 cycles
• Large and bright 3.0-inch LCD monitor with 230,000 pixels and wide viewing angle
• Selectable noise reduction for high ISO images, 50% less shadow noise for all images
• Ships this spring for $3999 (body only)

So price here should be around RM14,000.

Related Reading

1. Canon Press Release
2. Full res sample images from Canon
3. High iso sample images from Canon
4. More info from Canon USA

The S5 Pro features the same SuperCCD SR design sensor although now called ‘SR Pro’, it features 6.17 million ‘S photodiodes’ (normal DR) and 6.17 million ‘R photodiodes’ (highlight DR) for a total photodiode count of 12.34 million. Other headline improvements are the new body (which is obviously based on the Nikon D200) and all that includes; better AF, i-TTL flash, metering, Lithium-Ion battery. Other improvements include better DR control, up to ISO 3200 sensitivity and LAN / WiFi accessories.

This is the beast everyone is looking for, solid body, high ISO, amazing lack of noise and a wider dynamic range than other cameras.

A lot of people are still using the Fuji S3Pro as a portrait camera due to the beautiful colours it gives and the fact they can use Nikon lenses.

I’m really glad manufacturers are stopping the megapixel race and concentrating on quality.

Nobody ever really needs more than 10-12 megapixels.

And the difference between 8-10mp and 10-12mp is negligible.

It’s strange there’s no reviews out for this camera yet, it’s set to be around RM8500 in Malaysia.

We covered when the D80 was announced in August last year.

It’s a great camera, enough megapixels for anyone, good features, nice external controls, great image quality and the room to grow with support for plenty of pro quality lenses.

One thing I do recommend though, if you buy this camera don’t take the kit lens (the 18-135mm) as it’s not a great lens. Get the D80 body with the 18-70mm (Around RM650 second hand) lens from the D70s kit or get another lens completely like the 18-200mm VR (if you have the budget of around RM2500) or a third party lens like the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 (RM1550) or the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 (RM1800).

The D40 is ok for real beginners, but people with some good photography experience might find it limiting, also the lack of support for good but cheap lenses like the 50mm f/1.8D is not there.

The reviews are generally excellent, so here’ a summary for you:

Nikon D80 Review (DPReview)

The number of cons, and the fact that there are no serious ones, is a testament to the thought and work that has gone into the D80′s design. It’s one of those cameras which just feels ‘right and sorted’ from the moment you pick it up. Things just get better the more you use the camera, you will begin to discover the usefulness of major features like the customizable automatic ISO and the subtle touches like being able to tap the DELETE button twice to delete an image (sounds insignificant, but in use things like this make the D80 far more usable than other cameras).

Nikon D80 (Nikonians)

After following the speculation in our Nikon D80 Users Group forum at Nikonians I’d say Nikon has delivered on many fronts. It’s clear this new D80 DSLR can not be slotted simply as a straight replacement for either the Nikon D50 or the Nikon D70, but that’s not to say it isn’t. It’s shaping up to be a lot like a Nikon D50 in terms of size, but these comparisons can no longer be simply made.

Nikon D80 review (Photography Review)

Like the D100-200 upgrade before it, this upgrade from the D70 to D80 is a worthwhile step up, both in ability and performance. The jump in pixel count and autofocus ability alone warrants the change, but there are literally dozens of other tweaks as you delve further into the menus. The price also seems to be pitched about right, although market forces will soon see it settle into a slightly lower slot, which is all good news. Highly recommended.

DCRP Review: Nikon D80

The Nikon D80 is a fairly inexpensive digital SLR that packs spectacular performance and excellent (though somewhat soft) image quality into a well-built, solid camera. . For under $1000 you get quite a lot of camera, and it will certainly make people think twice about spending hundreds more on a D200. The D80 was a joy to use, and I’m certainly going to miss it when it goes back to Nikon. In other words, the D80 easily earns my recommendation.

Nikon D80 (Ken Rockwell)

When the D80 came out in mid-2006 I bought one immediately because it gave the same resolution as my D200 in a more portable package. My D80 is as small and light as my D70 with the same sensor as my D200. Whoo hoo!

Nikon D80 review (Camera Labs)

The Nikon D80 is without a doubt a very classy camera. It feels great, handles well, performs superbly and has one of the best viewfinders around. At times when rivals struggled with various lighting conditions, the D80’s metering remained unfazed and quite simply delivered great-looking images every time.

Once again I say if you have the budget, go for it, you won’t regret it.

It’s only a few hundred RM more (Selling for around RM2150) and you get a good solid 6 megapixel SLR with a new improved 18-55mm kit lens.

In everyday use the D40 is just what it set out to be, a very capable, compact, lightweight and easy to use camera which makes a perfect first step for anyone wanting to get into digital SLR photography. It provides enough control and a large enough range of manual settings to enable you to experiment and learn but also helps you to take great pictures in the process. It’s one of those cameras you can just pick up and start shooting without fuss, that you can hand to a friend who’s never used an SLR and know they’ll be able to do the same. All of this and a pretty decent kit lens for $600, I’d say it’s a bit of a bargain.

You can find the full review at DPReview here:

Nikon D40 Review

Should you take a back-up body?

Should you take that extra flash? Do you need that long lens?

Well you want the answer? Just take every model, every lens, from every brand.

Yes I spotted both Canon and Nikon here..crazy!

Sorry for no updates lately, will get back on track soon, things have been a little mad.