Allen’s Top Camera Gear

Although I skipped the worst three weeks of non-stop New Zealand storms with a trip Beijing, I’m well aware that it wasn’t a pleasant winter. But finally it looks like time to get out and enjoy some spring sunshine. And if you’re going outside, you should, of course, take your camera. So to make sure you’re equipped with the very best gadgets available let’s take a look at the latest products in the world of digital photography.

Canon EOS 50D

This August, Canon New Zealand announced the introduction of the brand new Canon EOS 50D digital SLR camera to New Zealand which for photographers was very exciting news. The EOS 50D replaces the EOS 40D. The EOS 50D is positioned between the 450D and 5D; not as expensive as the 5D, but definitely offering better performance than the 450D.

Let’s take a look at the highlights of the Canon EOS 50D:

• 15.1 Megapixel CMOS (APS-C sensor) – This makes it the highest resolution APS-C size sensor DSLR on the market. Although I’m not too fussed about pixels, I guess the higher the better.

• DiG!C 4 Image Processor – This is the fourth generation of Canon’s DiG!C processor and the 50D is the first model to use it. What’s so impressive about the DiG!C 4? Well they say the new version is faster, will produce finer detail and better natural colour reproduction. Well, we’ll see….

• ISO speed 100 – 3200, expandable to 12800 – Yes, you read that right: Up to 12800! I’m curious to see how good the image quality would be at this rate.

• 6.3 frames per second with continuous shooting of up to 60 shots in a single burst – Now, if you’re a sports photographer this is good news!

• 3.0” Clear View VGA LCD with Live View Mode and Live Face Detection AF Mode – Most DSLRs now carry Live View and many compact digital cameras have Face Detection function, so no surprises here.

• 9-point wide area AF

• HDMI output in full High-Definition for high quality viewing and playback on a High Definition TV

• Tough magnesium alloy body, with environmental protection makes it highly transportable which is good news for me.

• EOS Integrated Cleaning System including the improved Self Cleaning Sensor Unit with a new fluorine coating.

• New Creative Auto mode and Quick Control screen – What’s this? Well, it’s not actually as impressive as it sounds. It’s simply for users who don’t want to worry about technical things such as aperture and exposure when they adjust settings and shoot images. For example, you can adjust images to be a little brighter or make the background more blurry in Creative Auto mode, rather than having to understand how to change the exposure or aperture.

• Automatic image correction technologies including:

o Auto Lighting Optimizer – analyses brightness and contract automatically before making adjustments to achieve optimal images.

o Auto correction of lens peripheral illumination – lens peripheral illumination fall-off is automatically corrected to suit each lens when shooting in JPEG mode.

• Full compatibility with Canon EF and EF-S lenses and EX-series Speedlites.

• Software – the EOS 50D comes with the following software package:

o Digital Photo Professional Software – provides processing of loss-less RAW images.

o EOS Utility – provides essential support for Live View remote shooting, camera configuration and image transfers.

o Picture Style Editor – allows users to create individual Picture Styles that fit with their personal requirements.

OK, are you sold? I’m pretty much ready to sell my current camera and grab one as soon as it hits New Zealand stores in late September. The price is still TBC at the time of writing, but I hear it will be around the 40D’s price tag. It will be available in Body Only, as an Enthusiast Kit with EF-S17-85mm lens, and as a Premium Kit with EF-S18-200mm Lens (which is what I’m aiming for!).

Nikon D90

Honestly speaking, I’m more of a Canon guy. However, I have to admit that Nikon has been doing a reasonable job recently and have produced really impressive models. My friends who have bought the D300 all seem super happy with it. My father uses a D3 and likes it a lot, although he also bought a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III for lens compatibilities. OK, so what’s Nikon’s best offering right now? As far as I can see it’s the D90; successor to the popular D80. It’s the world’s first digital SLR with a movie mode.

So let’s take a look at what it offers:

• Newly designed Nikon DX-format CMOS image sensor with 12.3 megapixels

• Wide ISO sensitivity range of ISO 200 to 3200

• D-Movie – the world’s first DSLR movie mode which allows you to shoot HD720p movies

• Scene Recognition System integrated with Face Detection System

• 3” LCD with Live View mode

• 11-point AF system

• Continuous shooting at up to 4.5 frames per second

• Compatible with HDMI output

SanDisk Extreme III 30MB/s Edition SDHC

In the digital photography age, memory cards are essential. SanDisk has always been my brand of choice for memory cards. The recently added Extreme III 30MB/s Edition line of SD High Capacity cards can read and write up to 30MB/s, which is a 50% speed boost on the previous fastest 20MB/s cards; helpful for working with the new range of fast speed DSLRs.

The new cards are available in 4GB (RRP NZ$100), 8GB (RRP NZ$165) and 16GB (RRP NZ$270).

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