Top five digital SLRs for novices

Trading up from a digital compact camera to a digital SLR lets you be more creative. Here are five that are perfect for newbies


BEST FOR STILLS AND VIDEO

Nikon D90


This is the world’s first digital SLR stills camera that’s also capable of recording high-definition video. The D90 is trickier to use than a camcorder, though, as it must be manually focused in video mode, will shoot just a few minutes of HD footage at a time, and records sound only in mono. Still images, however, are of the highest quality — the 12.3Mp resolution is more than enough to make high-quality A3-sized prints, the light-metering system is almost infallible, and the standard lens is capable of both wide-angle and telephoto shots. But the autofocus is slow compared with others on test here.

Verdict: A classy — and expensive — stills camera with passable HD video.


BEST FOR COMPACT SIZE

Olympus E-520


The 10Mp E-520 is a very neat, nicely designed package with a particularly compact lens system, making it the ideal choice as a holiday camera. Rather than relying on the on-screen menu, the Olympus has a number of buttons on its body, which allow fast access to its many features, including an integral image stabiliser. This makes it a little intimidating at first glance, although the camera is in fact pretty easy to use. Picture quality is very good, but if you’re shooting at fast speeds, unwanted digital “noise” in your images can become something of a problem.

Verdict: A solid choice if overall size is a key factor for you.

BEST FOR EASE OF USE

Pentax K-M



This 10Mp SLR camera is one of the smallest and cheapest on the market, and yet it still has a really solid feel to it, and is particularly easy and comfortable to hold thanks to its thick handgrip. The controls have been simplified to just a few buttons situated on the rear, but it’s certainly not short of features— you just have to use the on-screen menus to get to them. This makes the K-m a very easy camera to use. With the same built-in shake reduction facility and anti-dust function (for self-cleaning after changing the lens) found on more expensive rivals, it turns in a very respectable performance indeed.

Verdict: A budget bargain that also happens to be a cinch to us

BEST FOR MAXIMUM IMAGE RESOLUTION

Sony Alpha 350


Sony is comparatively new to the world of digital SLR cameras, but its Alpha range has already established a reputation for innovation and value. The Alpha 350 offers a truly class-leading 14.2Mp resolution, so you’re able to make larger prints from it (up to 18in x 24in) while still retaining plenty of sharp detail. It’s also packed with features that will appeal to the more creative amateur photographer. The autofocus function works brilliantly, built-in image stabilisation is included, and the LCD monitor is on a pullout mount, so you can take shots from unusual angles.

Verdict: A feature-packed digital SLR that also happens to represent superb value for money.

BEST FOR HUGE RANGE OF LENSES

Canon EOS 1000D


Canon’s smallest and lightest digital SLR feels reassuringly solid in the hand, and is ready to shoot the instant you flick the on/off switch. The autofocus is fast and accurate, the 10Mp image is of very high quality, and the camera is compatible with Canon’s enormous range of lenses, which numbered 62 at the last count. The set-up of the controls is intuitive, so even beginners will feel at home with this camera within mere minutes. However, spend a little more on a higher-specification EOS model, and you’ll end up with a lot more features to play around with.

Verdict: A brilliant digital SLR, but rather lacking in personality.

-Daniel Lezano, Timesonline

Sony T700

The Sony T700 is the coolest of the club and we think Sony have excelled themselves with this little digital camera. The front of the camera has a sliding lens cover the full size of the front which gently glides up and down to reveal the lens and flash and leaves a flawless finish when closed. The camera is only 16.4mm in depth so is perfect to slip into your pocket on a night out or will take up very little space in your hand bag or even purse.

Features
With 10 mega pixels, not only are you going to achieve extremely clear images but they can be enlarged to up to A3 size and stay extremely clear. Double Anti-Blur with Optical SteadyShot Image Stabilisation assists with this too ensuring and High Sensitivity IS0 3200 delivers clear images even in low light conditions. Other great features include 4GB of internal memory to store over 24,000 photos, a 4x optical zoom, Photo Album functions for organisation and Sharemark technology for resizing and labelling. Enhanced Face Detection with auto adult/child recognition optimises focus, exposure, white balance and skin tone while Intelligent Scene Recognition selects the correct shooting mode with Anti-Blink technology. There is also a 3.5" touchscreen display which fills the rear of the camera and has no other buttons at all on the back section. A HD output allows you to connect the T700 to an LCD/Plasma TV and view your images in the best possible quality.

Performance
It just gets better with the Sony Cybershot T700 as not only does the camera have some brilliant features it performs wonderfully too. Images achieved were full of vibrant colour and fine detail and displayed blacks and contrast and exposure really well. The T700 was quick to fire-up and quick between shots, no annoying waiting to take your next pic. The menu was really easy to navigate and all the programmes on board to manipulate your images work well and are very simple. Uploading is really easy too.

Overall Opinion
The Sony Cybershot T700 digital camera is great fun and very easy to use. Results are brilliant and the touch screen makes things that extra bit easier and fun. A good price for good results.

-unbeatable.co.uk

Samsung TL34HD

The Samsung TL34HD is a no hassle point-and-shoot. Thanks to its touchscreen interface, it's one of the easiest compacts on the market to use. It has a 3.0-inch LCD that's extraordinarily big for such a small camera, and its 28mm lens lets you squeeze plenty of information into wide-angle shots. We weren't as enthusiastic over the LCD screen's lackluster quality, and some might be underwhelmed by the 3.6x zoom. The video quality, even in high-definition 720p, was largely unusable for anything beyond YouTube. On the other hand, still-image quality was solid across the board, and the Samsung TL34HD gives you both full-auto and full-manual controls. If you need a lithe, thoroughly intuitive camera for landscapes and portraits, the TL34HD is an easy sell.

Pros: Small footprint, even with the lens fully extended. Solid image quality. Intuitive touchscreen.

Cons: Mediocre display quality. Subpar video quality.

-infosyncworld.com

Panasonic Lumix G1 camera

First Micro four thirds camera available now

The £600 Lumix G1 offers keen amateur photographers an alternative to bulky DSLRs and simpler compact and bridge cameras.

Which? has already got its hands on a G1, and has a First Look G1 video guide showing the basic and advanced features of this revolutionary 12Mp camera.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1's official launch date is November 1, 2008, and its cost of £599.99 will include a standard 14-45mm kit lens.

The G1 was showcased at Photokina in Cologne this year and we reported on the G1 at the CEATEC exhibition at Tokyo last month. The G1 is the smallest camera with interchangeable lenses, and is neither a regular compact digital camera or a DSLR. It has been labelled as a 'Micro four-thirds camera', and there are rumours that Olympus are developing a similar model.
Panasonic G1 lenses

A second 45-200mm telefocal lens will also be released at the same time, and this will cost £329.99. If the two lenses are bought as a bundle, then the second lens will be sold for half price. With a lens adaptor, then the G1 is compatible with a variety of existing SLR lenses.

Three further lenses are scheduled for release in Spring 2009, including a 20mm pancake lens, a 7-14mm wide angle lens, and a 14-140 telefocal lens.
Digital camera market research

Panasonic's market research indicates that there are around 113 million compact camera owners worldwide, and that 23 million of them would be willing to upgrade to a digital SLR if they were smaller, lighter and easier to use. Those photographers are the market that Panasonic is targeting with the Lumix DMC-G1, and it plans to hold 15% of the digital camera market share by 2009.

The G1 is 20% lighter than the Panasonic L10 DSLR and has a 52% smaller footprint. The kit lens of the G1 is 20% lighter than that of the L10. Photos from the UK launch are available in the Which? technology Flickr gallery, including a comparison of cut-away G1 and L10 models, clearly showing the size difference and simplified optics.

The Panasonic G1 does not have a video mode, but Panasonic revealed at a UK press event in October that a new HD G1 model will be released in Spring 2009 and will feature an HD video mode.

Pixels aren’t everything—the lens still matters most

BY GREGORY COAN

I was a photographer long before I was a computer geek, and it has been both a blessing and a curse that the two fields have merged. This article is more of a philosophical explanation of digital camera technology rather than a specific product review, in the hopes it can clear up some of the marketing hype that engulfs the industry.

Historically, film cameras touted their features and their lenses. The most important investment one could make on camera hardware was the lens. This is still true for digital cameras, because it doesn't matter how many megapixels your camera can render—if you're filtering light through a cheap lens that is what will appear in your photos: soft corners, uneven focusing and bad color reproduction.

Film was (well, is still) sold at different ASA ratings. The lower the number, the finer the grain structure. In a way this can be related to the megapixel number on a camera sensor when it comes to print output. For instance, a 100ASA film can be printed much larger than an 800ASA film without the grain structure showing. The same holds true for digital cameras. Obviously a 25MP camera can yield much larger prints than a 5MP camera. If you are going to post most of your photos online, almost any current camera will suffice.

During the last year, the gap between point-and-shoot digital cameras and DSLR cameras has begun to overlap in that each can make pictures in the 14MP range. For a point-and-shoot camera, this is quite amazing. I bought a Canon 5D DSLR the first year it was released and now there are point and shoot cameras available that yield the same megapixels at about one-tenth the price. Naturally, you can't change lenses on a point-and-shoot, and there is less functionality, but the average consumer has so many good, affordable digital cameras to choose from now.

As a general buying guide you have to ask yourself some questions. The most important is, "Do I really need to have the highest megapixel camera available today?" Camera manufacturers are in the megapixel marketing war but don't for a minute believe this is the only thing you need in a camera. If you aren't ever going to print anything larger than 8-by-10 you could live with a really good 8MP camera.

Many people still bring their memory cards to photo labs for printing, but it's quite easy to get great photographic prints at home with modern inkjet printers. Part of the shopping budget should be allocated to getting a good printer if you are going to print yourself. Epsons and Canons still lead the pack. It's no less exciting to make a great print yourself in the digital "darkroom" as it is seeing the photo appear in a tray in a traditional darkroom.

The most important thing on any camera is still the lens. If you need quality options in lenses, you should consider a DSLR. You can buy a DSLR body for a reasonable price and then spend good money on quality lenses. Your pictures will be sharp and rich, beyond the quality of any film camera you've ever owned.

Of course DSLR's are bulky, and I love the small point and shoot digital cameras available today. Some of the best lenses are on the Panasonic Lumix line, as the glass is made by legendary camera company Leica. Canon and Nikon also make very nice point and shoot cameras.

It's great to see the large camera companies stay at the forefront of technology and I suggest you start with and research the name brands before considering a lesser known company because of a lesser price. Most of the time in digital photography, you get what you pay for.

Try to ignore image processing gimmicks that happen in-camera. One recent built-in feature I saw was called the "MakeUp" mode. This will try to automatically find and correct defects on people's skin in the image. Without getting into the argument about altering reality (which I'm not against), the thing to remember is the less the camera does to your raw image, the more control you will have over it in the end. It's fun to alter images, but you always want the original in the arrchive--think of it as you did your old film negatives.

Finally, remember there are plenty of costs beyond the initial purchase price of the camera itself. You will almost immediately have to buy more memory cards for the camera itself. A growing problem with cameras that produce greater than 10MP images is storage. Be prepared to buy extra hard drives or DVD media for backing up all the photos.

Photography habits have changed over the years. When I shot on a 36 exposure roll of film I was more careful what I was shooting. Now that I have huge amounts of digital capability I shoot more pictures, but I have to find a place to store them. In the end it may equal out to what we used to pay for film but it remains a concern as you shop for that perfect image companion.

Digital camera 'bargains' come at a price

Want to save money on your next camera? Watch out. Dishonest merchants are cashing in on bait-and-switch scams and gray-market goods. And gadget lovers — photographers in particular — are prime targets.

For example, I recently received e-mail from Kenneth, a beginning photographer. He found a great deal on a Canon lens. It was $400, about $150 less than on other sites.

Customer service soon called to verify his order. He was offered an upgrade to a "better" lens. He ended up spending $600 on a lens worth $140.

Kenneth got off relatively lightly. Others have lost larger amounts of money. And, Kenneth wasn't subjected to threats and verbal abuse like others I have heard from.

Gray-market electronics

A hallmark of unscrupulous sites is gray-market electronics. These electronics are intended for sale in other countries and generally make their way to the country.

Gray-market products are usually similar or identical to authorized versions intended for the U.S. market. Names and units of measurement may differ, though, and menus and instructions may be in a different language.

The biggest problem is with the warranty. Many companies won't honor warranties on gray-market electronics.

Some legitimate sites offer imported goods that cost slightly less than U.S. versions and are clearly labeled as imported. Unscrupulous merchants aren't clear about gray-market electronics.

The reel-in

Unethical merchants lure you in with incredible deals. For example, one site advertised a $1,800 Nikon D300 for about $1,000.

The ordering process goes smoothly. Then, a high-pressure salesperson calls to "verify" your online order. You may be offered a supposedly better deal. Or, you may be offered the U.S. version of the product. The U.S. warranty is a big selling point and you'll pay exorbitantly for it. And be careful: The warranty may come from the merchant, not the manufacturer.

Want a battery, cables and an instruction manual? They've been stripped from the box. You'll need to pay up. You're also pressured to buy a variety of accessories. Resist these tactics, and your camera may suddenly become unavailable.

Hidden dangers

The troubles don't end there. Shipping promises may not be kept. Buyers have also reported extra credit card charges.

Don't expect returns to be easy, either. Return authorization may be refused.

Customer service representatives may curse at you. At the least, you'll be met with hostility. Refunds can take weeks.

Fortunately, spotting deceitful merchants can be easy. Look for electronics priced hundreds of dollars less than competitors. Accessories like memory cards and batteries will be overpriced. You may see dirt-cheap lenses from big names like Nikon and Canon. Third-party lenses will be extremely overpriced.

Check reputation online

Before buying, do a Google search on the merchant to learn about other buyers' experiences on message boards and in blogs. Ask about the merchant in forums.

Check reviews on shopping sites. Good reviews can be faked, so just read negative reviews for warning signs.

Be wary of merchants that call to verify orders. This is usually a thinly veiled sales opportunity.

Unscrupulous merchants are trying to stay a step ahead. They may operate numerous sites. Periodic name changes are common.

That makes it more difficult to know if a site is legitimate. Also, it helps the merchant evade authorities. These merchants are frequently sued for false advertising and other illegal tactics.

Camera buyers are most at risk, but any shopper can fall victim to these sites.

-cyber speaks Kim Komando

Olympus SP-570 UZ digital camera

How does this super zoom perform?



Some super zooms look a little uncomfortable in their shells – a fusion of huge lens body stuck on an otherwise fairly compact camera. The Olympus takes a slightly more macho approach, looking more like a compact SLR than some of its competitors, see for example, the Nikon P80 or Fujifilm’s FinePix S8100fd, both recently reviewed here on Pocket-lint. The Olympus SP-570 UZ, however, brings a mite more zoom to the party.

The camera is fairly well laid-out, giving you access to a huge number of options, both via hard buttons and through the menus. The back is dominated by a very good, crisp, 2.7in LCD screen, the normal round four-way and enter buttons, plus options for reviewing images, shadow adjustment, display and menus, and an AE and AF lock option, hinting at some of the more advanced features on offer.

Main mode controls, however, are handled by one of the dials on the top, which sits atop the main power switch. There is also a second dial on the top (which we will come back to later) and a conveniently placed exposure compensation button. Main modes accessed through the dial include a full auto mode; programme which handles aperture and shutter speed for you (P); aperture priority (A); shutter priority (S); full manual (M); My Mode, scene, guide, video capture and image review – a fair number of options.

The Guide is somewhat strange is it gives you basic operation guidelines, but does allow you to activate some of those options directly, which is great for novices. However, it might be a little difficult to get stuck as there are a huge number of scene modes you can select, from the normal landscape and portrait modes, right through to auction, behind glass, snow, beach and so on. All these scenes might make the SP-570 UZ appeal to the less experienced photographer.

Of course, those who know what they want to achieve, or more advanced users, can opt for the other modes, P, A, S, M and My Mode. These advanced modes begin to make use of the additional dial on the top, which will flick through settings without having to move your thumb down to the back controls, which makes it comfortable to use.

My Mode allows users to define their own settings and store four original modes of their own, which will be handy for those who want to take shots of a particular type which are not already catered for; the process is simple too and can include things like flash settings as well.

The flash is a manual pop-up option, and although you’ll be alerted to the need for flash on the display, you’ll have to press the button yourself. There are a range of flash options, including various types of red-eye prevention. For those looking to get more from a flash, there is a standard hot shoe plate on the top.

Besides the LCD on the rear there is an electronic viewfinder, with a dioptre adjuster. Switching to the EVF is via another button on the back of the camera, which switches off the LCD (except for image preview). As is often the case, the EVF doesn’t really give you a very good image and suffers when compared to the sort of image you’d get from a TTL SLR.

So moving to the 20x optical zoom: this is motor driven and controlled via the ring around the lens. It can be a little slow to respond whilst moving from the wider angle and into the zoom as the hardware moves around inside. You get a 26-520mm (equiv.), so not terrifically wide-angle, but an impressive range none the less. There is an additional digital zoom, which you’d hope would be unnecessary, and unless you have a tripod, a stationary subject and perfect conditions, is not worth enabling.

Of course, even at the far end of the optical zoom, camera shake is an issue, so it needs to be very well supported. The camera does feature dual image stabilisation, which will aid in reducing blur, but the more you zoom, the greater the effect it is trying to counter: the image stabilisation is better put to task capturing images with lower ISOs.

ISO seems to be something of a yoyo factor and you’ll often find that the ISO is boosted to capture the image you want, which may result in the quality dropping off as noise becomes more apparent. At higher ISOs the sensor drops down to less pixels too to try to keep things under control, but noise is still apparent, so controlling the ISO through the settings is preferable to accepting that which the scene selection might give you.

Back to the lens and we found performance reasonable across a range of situations, if you control the shake then you’ll get good images towards the far end of the zoom, although dark corners do start to appear in brighter conditions. At the wide angle there is noticeable barrel distortion which can be seen on the LCD viewfinder, but you’d expect to find these things on this type of set-up.

Certainly, the zoom offers you a range of options that you simply don’t get on other types of camera, not from your compact and not without investing in more lenses for your SLR.

At times, bright conditions can be a little overwhelming resulting in a lack of detail in highlights or a leaching of colours. There is also evidence of chromatic aberration resulting in softer images which don’t have the sharp detail you might be looking for. Colours can be well represented, but we found as the light dropped, the colours tended to become too vivid, out of balance with surroundings.

But there is also a whole host of technology packed into the SP-570 UZ, such as face detection and a smile shot option. You can also capture images at 13fps (but only at 3MP) and there are some neat multi-shot options so you can get the exact frame of action you want. The latter of these options becomes something of a necessity because the shooting cycle can feel a little slow, especially compared to an SLR, but are also great fun to play back, watching changing expressions and so on.

There is also an intelligent panoramic option which is a breeze to use, but you do need an Olympus xD-Picture Card to take advantage of this. Arguably this is also one of the shortcomings of this camera – the reliance of the xD-Picture Card over the dominant SD/SDHC format (although this looks set to change in their cameras for the future). Olympus do themselves no favours by not supplying a card in the box either.

Battery life is also something of an issue. The camera takes four AA batteries, housed in the right-hand grip, and we found that we only got around 200 shots from full rechargables (2500mAh) and this was almost all without flash. This is an obvious disadvantage of a powered zoom so access to rechargables is a must – at least AA batteries are easy to get hold of.

Verdict

With so many features on offer, it is impossible to cover all of them without rewriting the manual. The Olympus SP-570 UZ looks good, feels good in the hand and build quality is impressive. But with every super zoom camera compromises have to be made. This arrangement will let you capture images that you might otherwise miss and with good light in the middle-zoom ranges you can get some great shots. However, at the price being asked for, you can find cheaper alternatives in the super zoom category.

Super zooms often appeal to those who want to get close to the action for holiday photos, on safari, for example, but if yourself wanting a zoom on a regular basis, then stepping up to a DSLR model will get you better results, albeit at additional cost.

-pocket-lint