I saw on 43rumors.com that the Olympus E-PL3 was being sold at Newegg for just $199 with the 14-42 kit lens included. I checked it out and it was real.The E-PL3 has been out since 2011. It has a 12mp Micro 4/3 sensor. DXO scored it only 499 for high ISO, just around one third of a stop better than the Sony RX100 (which measured 390), and about the same as the RX100 II (483). Nothing to write home about for an MFT sensor. However, note that the E-PL3 has a tilting LCD, built-in image stabilization, and face- and...
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Friday, 6 December 2013
Back in April of this year, Sigma surprised everyone by announcing the Sigma 18-35 f/1.8, the first zoom lens for a large sensor that had such a wide constant f/1.8 aperture. Some even thought it was a late April Fool's announcement. But it was real. Then people wondered what kind of image quality compromises we would have to put up with to get such a fast lens. When DXO tested the lens in September, everyone was astounded that not only was the Sigma 18-35 the fastest zoom lens, it was also the sharpest APS-C zoom ever. ...
Thursday, 5 December 2013
Fotodiox has a deal on speedlight modifiers, just for today. The kit includes: 1x 18" Beauty Dish1x 14" Hexagon Softbox1x 6"x8" Diffuser Softbox 1x 6"x8" 50 Degree Light Grid1x 10 Degree Snoot1x 20 Degree Snoot1x Popup Flash Diffuser For today (12/5/13), the kit is $67.48, half off its regular price of $134.95. I haven't tested any of them myself, but they seem similar to the Speedlight Pro Kit, which has been out for a few years now and does have samples, and was even tested by David Hobby. There's also a more...
Wednesday, 4 December 2013
My iPad is back, hurrah, now I can use the brilliant Blogsy app and post more frequently. It's a silver iPad Air with the handsome looking iOS 7 (although some apps still look old fashioned, and uses the old keyboard, hmm, like Blogsy for example). Today I will show you a few of my favorite pictures taken with the Olympus 45 1.8, one of the best lenses you could ever get for your MFT camera. Hit the jump for the full post. David &...
Sunday, 1 December 2013
I hope you're having a great Thanksgiving weekend. My parents came to visit and we had dinner at a resort called Terranea in a suburb of Los Angeles. I took a few shots, and this time I used flash. I'll discuss the approaches I used for three scenarios: sunset, an outdoor dinner, and a fireplace.SUNSETTo ensure that the colors of the sunset would be captured, I exposed for the highlights (in this case, by selecting Active D-Lighting...
Saturday, 30 November 2013
Nikon J1 with 10-30 lens $199 at B&H. Recall that the J1 has a 1-inch sensor like the RX100, so this might be a compact alternative with great high ISO performance (though it's not as pocketable). DPReview says the high ISO performance is about as good as 12mp m4/3 sensor, and I would agree based on DPR's studio scene test. Other interesting features: fast and accurate hybrid AF; 60fps raw burst. Here is the DPR review.I'll continually update this space with other deals that I find for this Black Friday weekend.Sandisk...
Thursday, 28 November 2013
I just noticed a huge price drop on the Olympus XZ-2 (previously $500 now under $400) and Pentax MX-1 (previously $500 now under $300). Perhaps it is not entirely a coincidence but Casio recently announced a new camera, the EX-10, which appears to share the same sensor and the same lens with the XZ-2 and MX-1: a 12mp 1/1.7" BSI (backside illumination) CMOS sensor, and a fast 28-112 equivalent f/1.8-2.5 lens.Even before the price drop, I had been interested in the XZ-2 and MX-1 for reasons discussed below.I'm interested in the Casio as...
For its Black Friday sale, Sigma is offering a 15% discount on refurbished lenses, including the following:Sigma 35 1.4 - the sharpest 35mm full frame, bar none, according to DXO. $679. Unfortunately, only the Sony mount is available refurbished at this time.http://www.sigmaphoto.com/product/35mm-f14-dg-hsm-a-refurbishedPreviewed here.Sigma 50 1.4 - the sharpest fast fifty according to DPR, with quite possibly the best bokeh. $379.http://www.sigmaphoto.com/product/50mm-f14-ex-dg-hsm-refurbishedReviewed...
Monday, 25 November 2013
Thanksgiving is almost here and with it, that beloved tradition of bargain hunting on Black Friday. :) One of the more interesting photo-related Black Friday sales I've seen is Adorama's sale of the Panasonic Lumix LX7 for $299 ($100 off). You may be wondering whether the LX7 would be a good pocket camera. By serendipity, I took some shots recently with the LX5 (reviewed here), which is practically identical to the LX7, except that...
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