More options for Fuji superzoom

More options for Fuji superzoom

   The camera sensation of the moment, at least abroad, the HS10 Fuji did not come alone to the world of digital photography. He brought his companions S1600, S1800 and S2500HD. According to the Fuji site not all cameras will be launched in all countries but if the trend of recent years is followed in Brazil, it is likely that we will soon here as the successor to the S2500HD S2000HD and the other two may be released only one here because the three are practically the same camera except for minor differences.

   All have the same CCD sensor and same resolution of 12 megapixels generating an acceptable density 43MP/cm ² if compared to other manufacturers launching this year. The first difference is that the S1600 has 15x zoom and the other has two 18x . All are great but 2cm super macro lens aperture is not good: 3.1-5.6 in all of them; system exclusive (for now) Fuji image stabilization through a sensor that helps quite buoyant especially in long distances and the manual controls and priorities already characteristic of the S-series so successful here in Brazil.

The flash range can reach up to 8 feet away according to the manufacturer's website but do not have shoe for external flash. The LCD is 3 inch high resolution display and still have the "visual" and make the 3 HD (1280x720) but only the S2500HD features HDMI interface and this is the only difference between it and the S1800, the three are powered by 4 AA batteries.

   To summarize: There are regular cameras but they remain the low price of its predecessors can become good options for those wanting to buy a new superzoom competing with Canon SX20, Panasonic FZ35, Sony and Nikon P100 HX1.

Quick review of the new F80 also EXR

   Fuji also has invested in more compact superzoom competing with the Canon SX120, Panasonic and Sony ZS HX5 mainly because it is one more option of camera with manual controls and any other camera has its pros and cons but sympathize with this camera because it 12 megapixel sensor but with a large (greater than average), called the EXR, which does not generate a density of megapixels as absurd while maintaining good image quality with 10x optical zoom. The weaknesses are due to the terrible opening of 3.3-5.6 and has super macro, the minimum distance is 5 cm.

She makes videos in HD (1280x720), your flash reaches 4.2 meters away, has 3-inch LCD and is powered by rechargeable battery. The series F is very hard to find here in Brazil, usually is only on sale in specialist shops and I think will appeal to those who buy it for its compact format and even though a powerful zoom and for manual controls.

   It is always like throwing Fuji cameras with good technical specifications in order to exclude a certain mistrust of consumers.

Leica V-LUX 20: Best in video than in pictures

Leica V-LUX 20: Best in video than in pictures

   Did you ever get tired of reading here that I consider as the best Leica lens manufacturer in the world but this is just a personal matter. Now I want to talk about her latest release, the V-LUX 20 that you have probably seen it before somewhere (including right here) but with the name of Panasonic ZS7 . Look here .

   No, the blogger was not crazy. But it is common practice for Leica and Panasonic launch twin cameras and in this case we are not perfect as there is little difference between them, or you never realized that the famous Panasonic LX3 has a twin sister called almost Leica D-LUX4? 

The purpose of this little post is to show that Panasonic and Leica are still together, developing their cameras and sharing knowledge: The optical Leica and Panasonic Electronic resulting in my opinion the best compact point and then comes the micro 4 / 3, one must speak few of them going forward because the G Series from Panasonic is one of the most successful in this category.

   As the specifications for V-LUX 20 are the same as Panasonic ZS7 (including GPS)'ll just give a basic recalled: Sensor with small but effective resolution of 12 megapixels total of 14.5 absurd density and consequently generating a lot of noise, 12X zoom with opening of 3.3-4.9 and the famous 60 seconds of exposure (all with manual controls); 3cm macro; flash with a range of about 5 meters; 3-inch LCD high-resolution, proprietary type battery power.

But the videos? That's where the difference arises between the camera from Panasonic and Leica's sister: The MBAS do HD video (1280x720) but with the difference that makes the Leica 60fps 30fps against the demure younger sister . The movements and details are much more crisp, excellent for those who like to use and abuse of small shoots.

   Just do not think of Leica find on the shelves of photo shops here in Brazil it is very difficult but in the Free Market gives to find various models of the Leica. I always wanted one, and you?

Canon SX1 vs. Sony HX1

These two cameras involved in the duel of today are theoretically the compact superzoom top of the market, which have more resources and differences in the category, although sometimes the Panasonic FZ35 to excel in some items.


   From these two cameras begins a new phase of dispute between manufacturers, the stage of the CMOS sensor different from the CCD normally found in the compact. Most DSLR cameras use CMOS and much of its success comes from this type of sensor but the compact there is still a long way to go, new learning.

While the SX1 has 10 megapixels to rival the Sony has a sensor 9 but also a little lower, ending balancing things up between the two, zoom and focal length are of them is exactly the same: 28 to 20x zoom -560 mm with the difference that makes use of his Sony G lens that is still below the indisputable quality of Canon lenses. Another difference is that Sony uses proprietary type battery and Canon uses rechargeable batteries, as I always say, is the customer's taste. Batteries has its pros and cons that are equivalent.


   The microphotography is where the Canon goes unchallenged because the more modest example of the sisters SX10 and SX20, SX1 also has this macro 0in while Sony is almost as powerful macro 1cm but things get back to balance speed and aperture, so long as the shots in quick to win HX1 rival Canon and the opening of leaves to be desired with the 2.8-5.2 2.8-5.7 against the Sony.


The item is bearded to flash that Sony has always excelled at it beyond that Canon have always lagged behind competitors even less reputable. both have the pop-up flash built but the difference between them is large: As the flash of the SX1 has a maximum range of 5.2 meters, the Sony goes to 9.2 meters . Cowardice ... but with a caveat: For those who want to buy one of these cameras for use with external flash, it should be noted that only the SX1 has shoe for external flash.


   The continuous mode of Sony is much more agile in the rate of 10 frames per second but limited to 10 pictures per sequence, while Canon's 4 shots per second without limit, the RAW mode is only present in the Canon and in return Sony has a unique panoramic photo mode where you only need to rotate the camera with the shutter fires , have both the EVF very useful in outdoor photos with natural light and a movable LCD, however, it is noteworthy that the Canon's (smaller, 2.8 inches) is pivotal and can be used at various angles and from Sony (greater than 3 inches) is just tilting being a little less functional than its rival. Another difference to note is that this was the last HX1 cameras this manufacturer not to accept the popular SD, which sets up a point against


To conclude, the videos. I already mentioned in earlier posts that there is a small controversy when some people to create specialized Web sites and say that Sony HX1 makes videos in Full HD. Full HD arises when the video has 1080 lines in widescreen format (16:9), amounting to 1920x1080 pixels and this is the maximum resolution of videos from Canon SX1 Sony HX1 but has a maximum resolution of 1440x1080, or 1080 has lines but in the old format (4:3) and an HD video and not Full HD. It is necessary to mention that the Sony at no time informed the body of the camera that the videos are in full HD without characterizing false advertising.


Blogger's opinion: More points for a difficult decision, difficult to have a knockout here lol. In my view, the Sony wins on some important questions but is lacking in many details and gave up using the Carl-Zeiss lenses conceptualized in favor of their lenses Sony G. This is perhaps the best compact that Sony has released so far and fight as equals with a Canon is already a victory but it loses a little because relevant items such as aperture, shutter speed and flash built into this model from Sony is better are compensated with a lens that faithfully reproduces the colors very mainly using the manual mode. It is worth noting that Canon needs to improve its CMOS sensor to recover the space it lost to the Panasonic superzoom on the market, is the successor to the FZ35 comes with a CMOS sensor heads will roll ...

Fuji S1500 vs. Fuji S2000HD

Fuji S1500 vs. Fuji S2000HD

   At least once a week when I open my email box I encounter someone asking what the best camera between these two title. They are incredibly cheap and easy to be found in department stores, hence the success of these two cameras as the general public does not always have access to computer stores and / or specialize in photography that usually sell much cheaper than the big magazines .

   Both have a resolution of 10 megapixels and a sensor consistent with this resolution so we will not have major problems with a high density of megapixels, it's a good start in terms of picture quality with these two cameras. But the S2000HD is beginning to gain not only by having more zoom (approximately 15x 12x against sister) masa also for having a focal length more versatile because it begins at 28mm and goes up against 33mm 396mm 414mm range against, or is more comprehensive for both nearly as far.

Both have the famous manual controls of aperture and shutter speed but the S2000HD has only one mode of priorities that is the speed, the S1500 has two; point for her. Both have an excellent super macro mode and this time wins the S2000HD: 1cm 2cm against!

  Now that the two items in his sister's S1500 wins most shameless: Your lens has a much better opening, against 2.8-5.0 3.5-5.4, and also has much faster shots and longer but neither has great prominence: The Longer shots are of S1500 on August 2 against the S2000HD 4 and the fastest to reach 1 / 2000 of the first and second 1 / 1000 second in continuous mode and the S1500 is a bit faster because it can do 1.4 clicks per second 1.1 against the competition.

The pop-up flash is present on both cameras and reach the same maximum distance of 8.8 meters and have no hot shoe for external flash. In the videos, announced the victory of the more high-tech sister (she has the remote control) which is the S2000HD as its name says: It makes videos in 1280x720 resolution while the S1500 is only at 640x480.

   To conclude, both are powered by four AA batteries, uses SD memory card, have 2.7-inch LCD with high resolution of 230,000 pixels and optical viewfinder are the electronic type, like a mini LCD with all the functions available on the screen.

   Blogger's opinion : The choice would be easy in favor of S2000HD if not for the opening of the demure younger sister who is much better, you need to assess whether this will be very important when making your clicks, an initial opening of 3.5 does not will favor the super macro 1cm long she has to offer and also the lack of aperture priority mode, but it has the videos in high definition that has no rival. I would get the S1500 because it would serve me better in features but in general, the S2000HD is the winner of this clash between sisters.

Panasonic FZ35 vs. Canon SX20

Panasonic FZ35 vs. Canon SX20

   Here is another pair that is often required in the photography forums, I would say is the biggest rivalry of the moment, the cameras cause more questions to prospective buyers, although not better than their predecessors Panasonic FZ28 and Canon SX10 they are practically the same cameras but with increased resolution only.

   The first difference is that Panasonic is powered by battery type owner and Canon for 4 cells, there is the customer's taste: The first reloads much faster, the second lasts much longer, everyone decides what they find most important. Remembering that these characteristics are not related to these two cameras and necessarily so, to all cameras. In short: Camera battery = More photos with the same charge / Camera Battery = Less wasted time loading it.

Cut to the chase, we will "dismantle" virtually the cameras and know what's inside. There are two cameras with 12 megapixel sensor the same size, Canon has 20x zoom from 18x Panasonic, in addition, Leica and Canon lenses are almost equivalent, a slight advantage for the first offsets the lower zoom generating up to a draw here technical matters between the two.

   The thing begins to heat up with the macro mode that Canon is at 0cm (say you can touch the lens at the subject but lack the lens opening) and the Panasonic is 1cm, which does not cease to be so spectacular, speaking of Panasonic opening win in this regard: 2.8-4.4 2.8-5.7 against the competitor, so good that the Canon's zoom is bigger but not so much for all this difference, the shutter speed the Panasonic is relentless in long shots : Its the traditional 60 segundos play 15 seconds of the Canon in the trash with the aggravation of these 15 / 2 can not be used in manual mode, only the specific mode of firing slow, since the advantage in quick shots is the Canon reaching a maximum 1 / 3200 to 1 / 2000 rival.

The Canon gives the change in the requirement for external flash shoe that the FZ35 does not have, but in flash it is better than the Canon (novelty, AFFF): 8.5 meters maximum range versus 6.8 meters. Both have support for the RAW format for those who like (the Canon only using the software CHDK), HD videos of 1280x720 pixels, electronic viewfinder with diopter to adjust the picture very useful to those who wear glasses like me. The Canon's LCD is slightly smaller (2.5 inches versus 2.7's rival) but much more functional for the various angles that their mobility allows.

   The continuous mode from Panasonic is a little disappointing, much faster than the Canon but limited to 5 pictures in sequence (very little) while the Canon is unlimited. The FZ35 impressed by the lightness is surely the superzoom large lightest I've ever seen, much more comfortable than its competitors because it is perhaps a little smaller

Blogger's opinion: These cameras are very pairings and although I prefer to opt for FZ35 batteries because the opening is much better using enough zoom, slow shutter mode from Canon is a disappointment and these two items in my opinion are more relevant that the lack of a shoe for flash and an LCD mobile as the Canon. The decision is tight and I would also like to read other reviews about these two different cameras.

Helping to choose the best camera

Helping to choose the best camera

   As I said before, there is no "best camera" but the one that best suits your needs, some brands prioritize some items that are not so good at other brands and because of this, if you think photography is an art , choose your camera is also an art. Eta difficult thing ...

   This issue has been discussed before but I'll try to go deeper and give a brief summary of what has been said here:

   Look for brands, the ones who always had their names associated photography, are manufacturers of lenses and so their quality is more than guaranteed, such as Nikon, Canon, Olympus and Leica. Because Brazil does not see Leica cameras being sold, it goes by the name Panasonic on here but watch out the fact that not all Panasonic use Leica lenses.

That done, we need to know if you are looking for automatic cameras in which you point and shoot without further adjustments, or by more advanced cameras with manual controls when you decide to open, exposure time and other things before giving your click. There are a myriad of good automatic cameras out there and unfortunately it's shrinking the number of good models with manual controls between the compact.
   Sensor Size

   Along the lens, the sensor is what is most important when choosing a camera especially if it is one with manual controls. In the compact do not compare to that DSLR sensors are much larger, hence the best quality. The larger the sensor, your camera will be better and I'll show you the size of the sensors of some cameras here:

Canon
G10, G11, SD990 and S90: 1/1.7 "(7.60 x 5.70 mm, 0.43 cm ²)
SX1, SX10, SX20, SX110, SX200, A480, A1100, A2100, SD880, SD780, SD1200, SD940 and SD980: 1/2.3 " (6.16 x 4.62 mm, 0.28 cm ²)
SX120 and SD1100: 1/2.5 " (5.75 x 4.31 mm, 0.24 cm ²)

Casio 
FH20, FH100, FS10, H10, G1, Z90 and Z33: 1/2.3 " (6.16 x 4.62 mm, 0.28 cm ²)
Z29: 1/2.5 " (5.75 x 4.31 mm, 0.24 cm ²) 

Fuji
F200EXR and S200EXR: 1/1.6 " (7.78 x 5.83 mm, 0.45 cm ²)
F70EXR: 1 / 2 " (6.40 x 4.80 mm, 0.3 cm ²)
A150, S1500, S2000HD, Z30, Z33, Z300 and J30: 1/2.3 " (6.16 x 4.62 mm, 0.28 cm ²) 

Kodak 
Z1485: 1/1.72 " (7.40 mm x 5:55, 0.41 cm ²)
Z980, M341, M381 and Z950: 1/2.33 " (6.13 x 4.60 mm, 0.28 cm ²)
M340, M380 and Z915: 1/2.3 " (6.16 x 4.62 mm, 0.28 cm ²)
C140 and M320: 1/2.5 " (5.75 x 4.31 mm, 0.24 cm ²)

Nikon 
S230, S570 and S70: 1/2.3 " (6.16 x 4.62 mm, 0.28 cm ²)
L100, L20 , P90, S620, S220, S630 and S640: 1/2.33 " (6.13 x 4.60 mm, 0.28 cm ²)
L19:  1/2.5 " (5.75 x 4.31 mm, 0.24 cm ²)

Olympus 
Tough Stylus 6000, FE5020, FE5030 FE4000 and: 1/2.3 " (6.16 x 4.62 mm, 0.28 cm ²)
SP560, 550WP, FE5000, FE5100, Stylus 7000 and Stylus 8000 Tough: 1/2.33 " (6.13 x 4.60 mm, 0.28 cm ²)

Panasonic 
LX3: 1/1.6 " (7.78 x 5.83 mm, 0.45 cm ²)
FX150: 1/1.72 " (7.40 mm x 5:55, 0.41 cm ²)
FZ28, FZ35, ZS3, ZR1, TS1 and FS12: 1/2.33 " (6.13 x 4.60 mm, 0.28 cm ²)
FS6, FS7, FS62, FS42 and ZS1: 1/2.5 " (5.75 x 4.31 mm, 0.24 cm ²)

Samsung
WB500, WB550, WB1000, WB5000, ES55, ES15, SL202, ST500 and ST550:  1/2.33 " (6.13 x 4.60 mm, 0.28 cm ²)
PL10 and ST10:  1/2.5 " (5.75 x 4.31 mm, 0.24 cm ²)

Sony 
S930, W220, W230, W290, T90, T900 and H20: 1/2.3 " (6.16 x 4.62 mm, 0.28 cm ²)
HX1, TX1 and WX1: 1/2.4 "(Sony's site does not report the measures)

Focal length

      Understanding the numbers that are on your camera lens, I'll give an example from my Canon A700:

5.8-34.8mm focal length is what is the distance between the center and its optical sensor in millimeters but the manufacturer advises that the focal length of 35-210mm, let's understand why.

   If we divide 34.8 by 5.8 by 35 or 210, the total will give 6 which is the optical zoom that my camera has, ie 35 is the minimum distance between the sensor and the optical center and 210 is the minimum distance. This conversion of 5.8-34.8 35-210 for equivalence is achieved by the 35mm since that is the focal length of the old film cameras. Just out of curiosity, it is not necessary to make these calculations because the photo review sites already have everything ready for us, we must divide the width of the film (35) by the width of the camera sensor (5.75) and then multiply by focal length (5.8).

35/5.75 = about 6.8 x 5.8 = 35.264, about 35 of the focal informed by the manufacturer.

   Another camera I have, the SX1 has a focal length of 5.0-100.0, making the calculation of equivalence to 35mm we have: 35/6.16 = about 5.68 x 5 = 28.4, about the 28 states and the manufacturer as the it is 20x zoom, the focal length is at 28-560.

   Unnecessary and complicated calculations, just to satisfy my curiosity and colleagues who access the blog. Do not do it at home lol ...

   In the next post I talk a bit about the other numbers coming into the lens, aperture and more tips for choosing your camera.