Photokina – Day 2
22 September 2010
Impressions from the Photokina – Day 2:
- A new firmware for the Sony NEX cameras gives you the opportunity to configure two of the buttons with functions like ISO or metering mode. VERY welcome addition, now the interface ranks only bad instead of horrible. I’m still not a big fan of of the interface, but the camera still needs a AF/MF function.
- Another disappointment with the NEX series is the lens roadmap. There are plans for six more lenses, but none of them is a real pancake. 🙁
- I have never been a big fan of Casio, but their EX-FH100 impressed me. The high-speed function is really cool, it’s pocketable, it has RAW, the right amount of megapixel (10), and the 24-240mm zoom range is very nice, too. The price is very competitive, too, just around 225€ on the market. I wish it had a slightly higher sensor (only 1/2.3), but I consider it as a pocket camera.
- Olympus apparently has a compact prototype that, according to the guy at the stand, has an 4/3 sensor. Now the mockup had about the same size as the Panasonix LX5, so this could be really interesting. Other than that, not much of interest from Olympus in my opinion.
- I checked out a Canon lens for a friend (F4 70-200, very nice) and the guy at the stand was not particularly polite or helpful. They had two or three cameras there and apparently you were not allowed to test a lens on your own camera. You can imagine that the stand was packed, so a lot of people were waiting. Not the best way to run a booth for testing lenses in my opinion.
- I am an even bigger fan of the Sony A55 today than yesterday. The manual focus close-up in the EVF is amazing!
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I tried out the Samsung NX100 and I’m afraid the only thing the camera has going for itself is the AMOLED Screen, which is nice, and maybe the fact that the system has two pancakes in the mix.
- I tried out a few camera bags. The Tamrac 5788 Evolution 8 bag is one fine piece that has a lot of very smart and helpful gimmicks.
- At one booth, a Japanese company named MT Foto, I got samples of white, grey and black tape that you could use to establish the White points etc. in post-procession. Very generous and I think that could be very useful for studio work. They are looking for a distributor (Website).
- I tried a Hanvon Art Master tablet and it’s pretty much the same as the wacom tablet, although the scroll wheel apparently does not work on the MAC (yet). It looks really high quality, but I will most likely still get the Intuous4 S, since the price difference is minimal.
- At NikSoftware, I had a look at the new HDR Efex. It looks really good, there are many presets and thanks to the U-Point technology, you have much more control over the final result than with Photoshop or Photomatix. However, I don’t use HDR that much (I prefer DRI), so I am not sure if I will get it (Around 70-80€ if you have the complete collection). Plus, it looks like all other program from NS will have their 64bit version before Christmas, with the first ones coming in October.
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Photokina – Day 3