Casio EXILIM EX-Z1

TrustedReviews has published their review of the Casio EXILIM EX-Z1, an ultra slim and elegant digital camera with 10.1MP resolution (on a 1/2.3-inch square pixel CCD), 3x optical zoom (35.5-106.5mm equiv.), 2.7-in. LCD (115K dots), Easy Mode, Scene modes, Face Detection, YouTube™ Capture Mode, and Movie 848×480 @ 30fp in 16:9 Wide Screen format. According to TrustedReviews, “colour reproduction is excellent.”

Canon EOS Rebel T1i / 500D

DigitalCameraInfo has published their review of the Canon EOS Rebel T1i / 500D [Specs], a DSLR which offers "still image color accuracy and video quality" and featuring 15.1MP resolution (on a 22.3 x 14.9 mm CMOS sensor), an extra large 3.0-in. high resolution (920K dots) LCD, Integrated Cleaning System, 9-point Phase Detection AF, Live View, PASM, Shutter Speed range of 30 – 1/4000 sec. plus Bulb, Continuous 3.4fps, and RAW file format.

Olympus PenFT

Last week, we told you of a teaser for the new Olympus micro G digital camera on the Olympus UK site. Here’s another teaser from the Olympus Asia site. More info about the new Olympus micro G is to be revealed next Tuesday, May 26, 2009 [does the page source hints at June 16 as official release date?] as a successor to the Olympus Pen in celebration of the latter’s 50th Anniversary.

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Last month we reported that CameraQuest made a Leica M adaptor that allowed Leica lenses to be mounted on the Panasonic micro G DSLRs.

Well, Panasonic has just announced that it is also offering its own branded Leica M and R mount adaptors for the Lumix G Micro System.

Now owners of Panasonic G1 and GH1 will be able to attach Leica M lenses (DMW-MA2M) or R lenses (DMW-MA3R). These adaptors allow users to use the movable MF assist function, which enlarges the selected area when focusing manually.

Our Place

Our Place is a worldwide photographic project dedicated to documenting and promoting sites selected to figure in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The compactness and lightnes of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 [Specs] made it the camera of choice for Our Place photographers who like its discreetness, easy-to-use controls and flexible articulated LCD — and excellent image quality, especially when shooting RAW at base ISO.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1

DSLR Remote on the iPhone

What can’t you do with an iPhone? It seems like the whole world is coming to iPhone — and we love it!

Now, onOne Software wants to turn your iPhone into a Remote Controller. Dubbed the DSLR Remote, the iPhone app basically makes your iPhone act as a wireless cable release for your Canon EOS DSLR camera.

There will be 2 versions of the app: a “Lite” version that only fires the shutter will be priced at $1.99, and a Professional version that allows you to also control settings such as shutter speed, aperture and white balance, and is priced at a whopping $19.99 (introductory price of $9.99).

If your camera (only Canon DSLR for now) has Live View, you can even get a live stream of the camera’s viewfinder on your iPhone! Cool!

A gotcha: the camera still needs to be tethered to a laptop. Bummer! But I guess this is unavoidable until Canon DSLRs start to incorporate a wireless device inside.

There is a cool DSLR Remote video that shows the app in use at a basketball shoot. Are they crazy? Hanging a Canon DSLR above a basketball hoop and then have someone shoot a basketball at the camera? ;o)

$0.99 guys — at $0.99, it’ll sell like hotcakes.

Thankfully, my title above is wrong and the new DSLR from HOYA CORPORATION PENTAX Imaging Systems Division still bears the Pentax badge!

You can however see the HOYA culture encroaching: the camera is called a “lens-interchangeable” DSLR. The English in the press release is pretty good, but it’s obviously a translation and it just reads a bit funny.

The new Pentax K-7 catches up with the semi-pro offerings from Nikon and Canon, but is it too little, too late? The body design is a bit more sophisticated, more professionally elegant and staying with the “K” series is a good marketing move. Thankfully gone for good is the unpronounceable “ist” era!

Here are the basics:

• 14.6MP resolution on a 23 x 15.6mm CMOS image sensor
• Continuous Shooting at 5.2fps (max. 40 JPEG images)
• Dustproof, weather- and cold-resistant body
• Dust Reduction System
• Live View with Contrast AF mode
• HD Movie 1280 x 720 pixels 16:9 @ 30fps
• 3.0-in. (920K dots) LCD
• HDR (High Dynamic Range) function creates one composite image from 3 images shot at different exposure settings
• Digital Level function
• Attachment of copyright credits on recorded images
• RAW file format at the press of a button
• 16 Digital Filters (such as: Toy Camera, Slim, Watercolor,…)
• External microphone socket
• SD/SDHC memory card
• Optional Battery Grip D-BG4

The Pentax K-7 is compact, much smaller than its Canon and Nikon competitors. Live View, according to reports from early reviews, is still painfully slow as on most other DSLRs.

Related Articles:

- DPReview Hands-on Preview

PENTAX K-7

A Mid-Class Digital SLR Camera, Aimed at Realizing the Essence of SLR Photography and Equipped with Sophisticated Features for Top-Quality Digital Photography

May 21, 2009

Pentax K-7 DSLR

HOYA CORPORATION PENTAX Imaging Systems Division is pleased to announce the launch of the PENTAX K-7 lens-interchangeable digital SLR camera. Despite its compact, lightweight body, this new model brings together a wide array of advanced functions and user-friendly features with outstanding reliability and operability. This makes it possible to enjoy high-quality digital SLR photography with great ease.

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To showcase Times photographers’ best photojournalism work (photographs, videos and slide shows), The New York Times has launched a blog titled, ‘Lens‘. The blog will also highlight the best work from other newspapers, magazines, news and picture agencies from around the world.