Canon’s latest enthusiast’s compact, the PowerShot S95, successor to the succesful PowerShot S90, has been reviewed by PhotographyBLOG. The S95, which is rather an upgrade than a successor to the S90, sports largely the same features as its predecessor, with some minor improvements here and there. Chief among these are an integrated HDR mode, multi-aspect-ratio support (meaning you can now switch between 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9 aspects without compromising the actual field-of-view) and a 720p HD movie mode.
PhotographyBLOG judge the S95 positively in comparison to the S90, stating that “[t]he Canon PowerShot S95 addresses virtually all of the issues that detracted from its predecessor – most notably the lack of HD video and sky-high price – whilst further improving the handling and customisation.”
While they do compare the S95′s body and its features side-by-side to the S90, a side-by-side comparison of the image quality in terms of resolution, texture and noise would have been interesting as well.
Via Amateur Photographer.
These two cameras’ specs had already been rumoured for some time, but now they seem to be official. Sony is going to introduce to new DSLRs with a radically new concept (which is technically neither new nor radical, but new and radical for both DSLRs and Sony).
The new models, called α33 and α55 (official designations: SLT A33 and SLT A55, where SLT = “Single Lens Translucent”), no longer feature the classical, moving SLR mirror, but rather a translucent, fixed mirror, through which both imaging sensor and AF sensor are simultaneously provided with information. This means Sony were able to 1) introduce HD video featuring phase-detection AF (instead of the more conventional contast-detection AF) and 2) introduce continuous shooting rates of up to 10 frames per second, due to the fact that the mirror does no longer need to be moved during single captures.
A minor drawback of this new design is that due to the translucent mirror, there is no more optical viewfinder (contrary to the design of the Canon EOS RT), but instead a high-resolution electronic viewfinder. On the bright side (literally), an EVF will provide not only a consitently bright image – independent of what lens you are using -, but can also show additional information like gridlines, a live histogram etc., which is all not possible in traditional DSLRs.
The new α33 and α55 seem to be the first of a new generation of hybrid DSLRs, combining the best features of both DSLRs as well as mirrorless system cameras.
While there are no full review available as of yet, The Luminous Landscape have already gotten hold of an α55 + lenses, and have just published a first field report on the camera.
Revision: DPReview seem to have had and α55 for quite some time already, as they have just published their in-depth review. Wow, you guys were pretty fast this time!
Revision 2: Imaging Resource also have a review up already!
UPDATE: PhotographyBLOG has a hands-on report with body images from all angles!
UPDATE 2: The Phoblographer also has a hans-on report, featuring pictures taken with the α55 and the new Zeiss Distagon T* 2/24 ZA!
It is here, my friends, it is here: the first serious review of Sigma’s new Foveon DSLR, the SD15 – well, the first in English, that is. (The actual first review came from DCWatch and was in Japanese, as reported earlier.)
 Picture courtesy of Sigma Corporation. The Sigma SD15, successor to the SD14 (which is in-stock at B&H Photo), sports the same 3 x 4.7 megapixel Foveon sensor as its predecessor. Due to the Foveon sensor’s unique format, any lens mounted to the SD15 will have a field-of-view equivalent to ~ 1.7x of its indicated focal length on full-frame. An article on the achitecture of the Foveon sensor can be found here on dpreview, as well as the full specs of the SD15 DSLR.
On the IQ side, PhotoBLOG note that the SD15 delivers much more consistent colours than any of its predecessors, showing less white-balance problems or odd colour casts, which the earlier Sigma cameras were kind of renowned for. High ISOs are still very prone to noise, though, and anything above ISO 800 looks plainly awful (in the humble opinion of this blog’s editor). But if you know how to handle the camera, it can deliver some astonishing results. Pair this with the very nice lens setup Sigma has on offer for the SD series, and you’ve got a nice tool for those who are serious about image quality.
You can find the full review of the Sigma SD15 here at PhotographyBLOG.
It’s been a few weeks since Panasonic’s new superzoom has officially been announced, but so far the major review sites seem to have been cautious with publishing their takes on the new FZ100. One of the few reviews currently available comes from PhotographyBLOG.
The Panasonic FZ100 (and its lower-spec’ed sibling, the FZ40/45) is the successor to the popular FZ35/38 superzoom bridge camera, which was the #1 one on many top-ten lists for quite some time. The FZ35/38 being already quite generously equipped, the FZ100 now ups the ante again by introducing not only a new sensor with more megapixels (14 instead of 12 – who would’ve thought …), but also re-introducing the tilt-and-swivel monitor that was lacking in the FZ-series since the decommission of the great FZ50.
 Picture courtesy of Panasonic Corporation. The FZ100 sports a whopping 24x 25-600mm f/2.8-5.2 zoom lens, and for the first time features full-HD AVCHD movie recording. Also, besides being rotateable again, the new 3″ display comes with a higher resolution of 460k dots. The sensor has been changed from CCD to CMOS and is now capable of capturing up to 11 frames per second.
If you’d like to find out how the camera fares in actual use, please read the review at PhotographyBLOG.
Via 43rumors.
CNET Asia have published a first hands-on comparison of the new Panasonic LX5 enthusiast’s compact and its legendary predecessor, the LX3. In their article, they feature a number of close-to-identical pictures taken with each camera, pointing out the differences in image quality between the old and new model. The result: The LX5 produces consistently better results with more detail, more dyncamic range, more natural colours and less lens-induced aberrations such as ghosting and flare.
As a reminder: The LX5 is no huge step forward from the LX3, but the many detail improvements accumulate to a much enhanced and quite desirable little camera. The biggest improvements seem to be the new sensor and lens, which both have a considerable influence on the final image quality.
You can read the full CNET Asia article here.
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September 1st, 2010, 5:06 pm | 
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