Olympus E-P3 review

In August I was sent the Olympus Pen E-P3 to review for Cameralabs. The camera arrived just as I was about to leave for a holiday in the South of France so, rather than a full review, I thought it would be interesting to use the camera while I was on holiday and report back here on how I got on with it. So rather than the usual in-depth report, this is more of a diary including my personal likes and dislikes about various aspects of the E-P3's handling and performance. I've also including a page of results showing the noise levels across the ISO range.

The Pen E-P3 was announced in June 2011. One of three Micro Four Thirds Pen system cameras, the E-P3 is a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera, or ILC. It shares the 'classic' styling of its predecessors, the E-P1 and E-P2 with a look and feel that harks back to the 60's and the original 35mm film Pen models.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the E-P3 doesn't look radically different from its immediate predecessor. Though it shares the same 12 Megapixel sensor as the E-P2, the new TruePic VI image processor provides significantly faster autofocussing with 35 AF areas. The addition of an LED AF assist lamp improves autofocus performance in low light. Slow focussing was one of the biggest criticisms of earlier models and, though the focussing system isn't faultless, it is now virtually instantaneous.

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The EP-3 gets a new 3 inch touch sensitive OLED screen with 614,000 dots. The touch functions work as an adjunct to, rather than a replacement for the physical controls. You can touch to focus and also fire the shutter as well as preview images. The touch screen isn't used for menu selection though, and if you prefer, as I did, you can disable it altogether. I decided to do this as a result of the shutter firing inadvertently and also because touching the screen locks the E-P3's physical controls, something Olympus will hopefully address in a firmware revision.

There's a new pop-up flash, which is more useful for fill flash than anything else, though you can of course attach a separate flash to the hot shoe. Lastly there's a couple of cosmetic changes. The 14-42mm kit lens now has an R suffix, a new knurled finish on the zoom and focus rings and a removable cover plate for the bayonet mount. And there's a detachable grip that screws to the right side of the front plate. I fixed this to the camera as soon as I took it out of the box and left it there. For one thing, once you've seen it in place the camera looks a bit odd without it. For another, it feels odd without it too, but I guess there might be some people who prefer a slimmer uncluttered grip-less camera.

Ordinarily when travelling I'd pack my camera away in my hand luggage, but one of the things I wanted to do on this trip was keep the E-P3 accessable at all times which meant around my neck using the supplied strap. I took it through the airport like this and whenever I ventured out, popping it under the dash when driving. Although it isn't the smallest Micro Four Thirds Pen, it never felt like an encumberance and the fact that the kit zoom lens contracts when not in use helps a lot.

On the flight, I took the opportunity to familiarise myself with the menu system and set up the E-P3 for my personal preferences. The menu system on the E-P3 has inherited the clear and logical structure of the E-PL2 with six buttons down the left for shooting, playback, custom functions, accessories and setup. One of the things I particularly like is the Super control panel, shown on the right below, which displays just about everything on a single screen.

Having set the image quality to LF+RAW and the movie quality to AVCHD Full HF F - the best quality 1080i/60 mode at 20 Mbps, I then took a look at the custom menu. The E-P3 has several buttons with customisable functions and I wanted to make the most of these from the off. The Fn1 button on the rear panel is assigned by default to the Live Guide result-based controls for novice users that I wasn't particularly interested in, so I switched the function of this button to switch from RAW+JPEG shooting mode to JPEG, effectively allowing me to toggle RAW on and off with a single press.

Ordinarily I'm happy shooting RAW+JPEG, but there are times when you can do without the additional wait for all that data to be written to the card between shots. As it turned out, this really only makes a difference for continuous shooting, and then only marginally, so I later changed the assignment of the Fn1 button to toggle the LCD panel on and off. I quite often don't pay that much attention to framing (as you can probably tell from my shots) Most of my street shots of people were taken very quickly, either shooting from the hip, or just raising the camera and firing off a few shots without hesitating too long to compose. Turning the screen off would likely make a significant difference to the battery life and pressing the Fn1 button to turn it on if needed took a fraction of a second

The second custom button, Fn2, is on the top of the E-P3 next to the shutter release and the default is set to exposure compensation. This duplicates the function of the top position on the main dial, so I re-assigned it to IS mode, allowing me to turn the IS off and conserve battery power for general use, but quickly activate it for shots indoors and in low light. With both the screen and IS turned off most of the time I was confident that the E-P3 battery, which has a CIPA rating of 330 images would last all day, and it did.

There are loads of other opportunities for button customisation on the E-P3. You can re-assign the dedicated movie recording button, and the right and bottom positions on the control dial and you can also change the function perrformed by rotating the dial in different exposure modes, which is useful as the default settings often duplicate the subdial functions.

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In all, I used the E-P3 every day for a ten day period in France and took it with me more or less everywhere I went. A photographer's experience and opinion of a camera is inevitably going to be coloured by the kind of subjects they typically choose to shoot, On this trip I was mainly interested in the usual holiday stuff - local scenery, places visited, typical travel subjects, as well, of course as trying out some of the E-P3's features. I was also keen to find out what the E-P3 was like in everyday use, outside of a formal testing environment.

The South of France is hot and bright and, it's therefore no surprise that the majority of images I shot were at the E-P3's lowest available sensitivity setting of 200 ISO which I set manually. Generally, I tend to favour Program auto exposure mode and the E-P3's sub dial can be used to Program shift - select alternative aperture and shutter speed combinations to provide the same exposure. When you use Program shift the P indicator is appended with a small s to indicate the shifted exposure, which is a nice touch. Program shift on the E-P3 is so easy it almost, but not quite, negates the need for aperture and shutter-priority modes.

I've been to this part of the South of France a couple of times and one of the highlights of my trip is usually a visit to the Saturday market in the beautiful town of Ceret in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for modern art and cherries. One of the great things about wandering through a market like this with the E-P3 is you're not at all conspicuous and can snap away more or less unnoticed, particularly surrounded, as you are, by tourists touting hulking big DSLRs with long zooms attached.

With my fast-and-loose point-and-shoot technique I'm reluctant to rely on multi-area AF. The E-P3 provides the option of selecting the focus area by pressing the right side of the main dial which was useful on occassions. Generally, I felt more comfortable selecting the central AF area, giving me the opportunity to spot focus then recompose. Although the E-PL3 provides full-time AF (the camera focusses continually, not just when you half-press the shutter release), and a variety of AF modes including manual and manually assisted focussing, the single AF mode was the one I relied on and it worked well most of the time. On those occassions when I didn't get quite what I wanted from the focussing it was more often down to lack of care on my part, rather than the E-P3's shortcomings.

Here's a selection of the shots I took in the market at Ceret. They show the versatility of the 14-42mm kit zoom which, in my opinion, has the ideal range for this kind of photography. On the whole I'm fairly pleased with these images, but there are a couple of disappointments. The shot of the little girl on the jewellery stall is overexposed by at least a stop, possibly due to the dark car in the centre of the frame. As I was shooting RAW+JPEG I'll be able to fix this by adjusting the exposure on the RAW file.

Street portrait: 4.83MB, Program auto, 1/60, f7.1, 200 ISO, 14-42mm at 42mm (84mm equiv) Click image to access original at Flickr

The second problem may not be so easy to fix and that is the softness of the man in the hat in the honey seller shot. I took this in a hurry because I wanted to get the shot before the guy looked up. In my haste, I half-pressed the shutter realease as I was raising the camera with the result that the focus is on the honey jars rather than the chap in the hat. In order not to draw attention to myself, I'd turned off sounds so wouldn't have been alerted by the early AF beep. I should've fired off a couple of shots, or set continuous shooting, then I would have got the shot I wanted. Maybe letting the camera decide on the active AF area would have helped, but of course I had the E-P3 locked to the centre area only.

Street portrait: 4.67MB, Program auto, 1/60, f4, 200 ISO, 14-42mm at 19mm (38mm equiv) Click image to access original at Flickr

There are two things I take from this. One is that the E-P3 is an extremely customisable camera that's easy to shape into a very close fit with your personal preferences. The second is that any approach has its advantages and drawbacks and if you want quick unposed street shots taken with the minimum of preparation you have to expect to get plenty of shots that are just a little bit off for one reason or another. Generally though, I really enjoyed using the E-P3 in Ceret market. It was fast and responsive, felt familiar after only a short period of use and helped me get some shots I'm very pleased with.

Landscape with Normal Gradation: 5.01MB, Aperture priority, 1/200, f9, 200 ISO, 14-42mm at 42mm (84mm equiv) Click image to access original at Flickr

The abbey at Arles-sur-Tech presented two technical problems. The first was the wide tonal range in the abbey cloisters. The E-P3 lacks any kind of built-in HDR mode, although I could always use bracketed shots to produce a post processed HDR shot. As it turns out, the high contrast and deep shadow areas in these shots worked quite well to produce some fairly striking compositions.

Landscape with Auto Gradation (applied to RAW file): 5.01MB, Aperture priority, 1/200, f9, 200 ISO, 14-42mm at 42mm (84mm equiv) Click image to access original at Flickr

After I'd taken these shots of the Abbey cloisters I discovered the Pen E-P3's picture mode settings include a gradation option. Set to Normal by default, it has High Key and Low Key options used for those Scene modes, and Auto, which uses Olympus's Shadow Adjustment technology to optimise the tonal curve to provide more detail in the highlights and shadows. In the shot above, I've applied Auto Gradation to the RAW file using the Olympus Viewer 2 software and, as you can see, the result is pretty effective in areas which were previously clumps of blackness.

One of the problems with setting the ISO manually is that it's easy to forget to change it if you go inside, particularly if, like me, you don't pay much attention to the screen. The long exposures can be a bit of a giveaway though and I more often find that I forget to change back when going outside, resulting in 1600 ISO exposures in bright sunlight at f22. My approach with the Pen E-P3 was to switch to iAuto mode when inside and let the E-P3 determine the best ISO setting automatically.

Interior: 5.79MB, iAuto, 1/15, f3.5, 1600 ISO, 14-42mm at 14mm (28mm equiv) Click image to access original at Flickr

Inside the Abbey the E-P3 did a good job in iAuto mode. It's capable of up to 12800 ISO at full 12 megapixel resolution, but you'll need to adjust the ISO limit for it to select anything above 1600 ISO; then again if you take a look at my high ISO test results, maybe Olympus had the right idea for the defaults. With the IS set to mode one (stabilisation in both planes) most of my hand-held shots avoided camera shake, even this one at 1/15th of a second. One of the advantages of the E-P3's manual pop-up flash is there's no danger of it firing unexpectedly in locations like this where flash isn't allowed.

Night landscape: 4.4MB, iAuto, 1/60, f4.3, 500 ISO, 14-42mm at 24mm (48mm equiv) Click image to access original at Flickr

Following on from the success of my low-light shooting inside the Abbey I thought I'd try some night shots. The E-P3 has a couple of night shooting scene modes but as my shots consisted of a mixture of subjects, some with people and some without, I decided to stick with iAuto mode. On the whole, i'm quite pleased with the results. Naturally, I had IS enabled for these hand-held night shots and I'm impressed with the E-P3's ability to eliminate camera-shake in shots taken with shutter speeds ranging from 1/10th to 1/60th of a second. The white balance is a little on the yellow side in some of these night shots, but that's something that can easily be fixed with the RAW files.

Street portrait: 5.53MB, Dramatic tone art filter mode, 1/320, f8, 200 ISO, 14-42mm at 14mm (28mm equiv) Click image to access original at Flickr

A day trip to villages on the Mediterranean coast provided the opportunity to try out some of the E-P3's art filters. I was particularly keen to experiment with the art filters for movie shooting, but my efforts with the Grainy film and Dramatic tone filters proved disapointing. The processing required to apply these effects to 1080i video reduces the frame rate to a jittery frame-or-so-a-second. Switching the video mode to 720p or even VGA resolution improves things, but only marginally.

One exception to this is the Diaroma art filter which produces a tilt-shift effect. Footage is shot at a reduced frame rate, but played back at 30fps to produce a speeded-up effect and, as you can see from the result below, it works quite well, though this example would have been better if I'd found somewhere to rest the camera, rather than hand-holding. Another thing that I'd welcome is the ability to customise the in-focus area, which isn't always in the centre of a horizontal frame.

Nikon D3100 DSLR Review

The Bottom Line

The D3100 is Nikon's replacement for the D3000. Aimed squarely at the entry-level DSLR camera market, it's certainly going to be a wake-up call for other manufacturers. The D3100 has 14.2MP and full HD movie mode. In general though, Nikon has made entry-level cameras that lack specifications, but are fun and easy to use. How does the D3100 measure up?

Description

• Resolution: 14.2 megapixel DX format, CMOS sensor
• ISO: ISO 100-3200, expandable to 12800
• Focusing: 11 AF points
• Movie Mode: HD movie mode
• Flash: Built-in popup flash
• LCD Screen: 3-inch LCD panel, 230,000 pixels
• Battery: Lithium-Ion battery pack, EN-EL14
• Dimensions: 124 x 96 x 75 mm (4.9 x 3.8 x 3.0 in)
• Weight: 505g (1.1 lb) (including battery)
• Maximum Image Size: 4608 x 3072 pixels (RAW and JPEG)

Pros

• Good exposure for high contrast scenes
• 14.2MP of resolution, which is extremely high for an entry-level camera
• Extremely user-friendly for beginners

Cons

• Simplified buttons make it hard to get to key features quickly
• No stereo microphone input socket
• High ISO images are inexplicably more noise free in JPEG format than RAW format

Nikon D3100 Review

Nikon's latest offering to the entry-level market represents a giant leap for the manufacturer. At 14.2MP, the D3100 is second only to Nikon's flagship camera, the D3X. And it's the first of Nikon's cameras to offer HD movie mode at 1920x1080 pixels. It can only record clips of up to 10 minutes long, but this is a fairly impressive feature for an entry-level camera.

With an attractively low price tag, is this the camera for other manufacturers to beat? Judging by the specifications, one would immediately say "yes." What is important, though, is how the camera performs.

Controls

As with most of Nikon's consumer-level DSLR cameras, direct-access controls are kept to a minimum. The included controls are neatly spaced and easy to use, but most of the useful shortcut buttons to frequently used parameters are missing here ... something that's common found with Canon cameras. There are no direct-access controls to things like ISO, white balance, image quality, and image size. You can, however, assign these functions to the Customizable Function button on the front of the camera. Unfortunately, this is just one button! It is nicely placed to fall under your thumb, however.

Image Quality

Whatever other features and gizmos a camera might have, everything comes down to image quality in the end!

The D3100 is aimed at the entry-level market, and so it needs to perform straight out of the box on its default settings. In this area, it's extremely impressive. The D3100 exposes well even in high contrast situations -- an area where entry-level cameras have often struggled. Images look great straight out of the camera. My only slight criticism would be that, to my eyes, the images are sometimes a fraction too bright and colors can look ever so slightly glaring.

The camera is impressive throughout its automatic ISO range, and it even performs fairly well at its H1 setting, ISO 6400. It's only at H2 (ISO 12800) that the image deteriorates badly, and that noise is suddenly very visible. Still, this performance level is extremely impressive for an entry-level camera. The D3100 is even slightly less noisy at higher ISOs than the Canon EOS Rebel T2i, which is a higher priced camera aimed at a slightly more experienced market.

What I struggled to comprehend, though, was the fact that images were less noisy at higher ISOs in JPEG format than in RAW format. Yes, many beginners will probably shoot in JPEG most of the time, but they are bound to want to experiment with RAW at some point. To then convert these images to high quality JPEGs and find that they are more noisy will be a great disappointment.

Guide Mode

Introduced on the D3000, and now on the D3100, is the "Guide Mode." This is designed to help those new to DSLRs, without taking away all of the control from them.

When the camera is used in "Easy Operation" mode, the user can have the camera choose the required setting for different situations, such as "Sleeping Faces" or "Distant Subjects." As the users grow more confident, they can progress to the "Advanced" mode, which guides users toward either the "Aperture Priority" or "Shutter Priority" modes. Both are accompanied by a simplified interface showing what changing these settings will do on a small photograph on the LCD panel.

This is an extremely useful feature for those starting out in photography, and it makes the D3100 one of the most user-friendly cameras on the market.

LCD Screen

Rather frustratingly, Nikon hasn't upped the resolution of the screen, and it remains at 230,000 pixels. This is the same as its predecessor, the D3000, and Canon's nearly 2-year-old Rebel XS. Most new cameras have nearly four times this resolution! However, it's bright with plenty of contrast. The D3100's LCD is about as good as these screens can be in bright lighting conditions.

In Conclusion

This is a fine camera which will please not only beginners but will also appeal to those with a little more experience. Image quality is exceptional for an entry-level camera, and the D3100 more than holds its own in its class of camera. There are some drawbacks, but these will probably only begin to frustrate users after they've become very familiar with photography.

Nikon D7000 DSLR Review

The Bottom Line

A replacement for Nikon's D90 has been expected for quite some time, but many people will be surprised by how many specifications the D7000 shares with its semi-pro cousin, the D300s. As it stands, the D7000 sits somewhere between these other two Nikon cameras, both of which are still current models.

Nikon seem to have chosen to follow Canon and its EOS 60D by producing a camera that is most definitely aimed at the upper entry-level and enthusiast levels of photographer. Both cameras sit somewhere in the middle of the manufacturers' ranges. But how successful is Nikon's offering?

Description

• Resolution: 16.2 megapixel CMOS sensor
• ISO: ISO 100-6400, plus H1 and H2 settings equivalent to 12,800 and 25,600
• Focusing: 39 AF points
• Movie Mode: HD movie mode
• Flash: Built-in popup flash
• LCD Screen: 3-inch LCD panel, 921,000 pixels
• Battery: LiIon EN-EL15 rechargeable battery
• Dimensions: 132 x 105 x 77 mm (5.2 x 4.1 x 3.0 in.)
• Weight: 780 g (1.7 lbs.) (including battery)
• Maximum Image Size: 4928 x 3264 pixels (RAW and JPEG)

Pros

• Excellent performance at high ISOs
• Good build quality
• Comprehensive AF system
• Full HD movie mode

Cons

• Tendency to overexpose in high contrast situations
• AF can be very slow in low-light conditions
• Aperture cannot be altered in manual mode in "Live View"

Nikon D7000 Review

The Nikon D7000 is an impressive offering from Nikon. The body is made from magnesium alloy and has a thick rubber grip. It feels substantial when in hand -- especially compared to the D90's plastic shell -- and it certainly compares favorably to the D300s. But the camera is currently nearly $500 more expensive than Canon's equivalent, the 60D. Yes, the 60D has a plastic body but it has 18MP of resolution compared to the Nikon's 16.2MP. Does the Nikon have enough features for a new user to consider it over the Canon?

Well, the D7000 certainly performs slightly better at higher ISOs and gives better results when shooting in JPEG mode. However, I feel that its controls are more "fiddly" than the 60D's. Both cameras tend to overexpose in high contrast conditions, but the Nikon is definitely more problematic. If you, as a user, are likely to only shoot in JPEG, then the Nikon is definitely worth the extra money! Otherwise, if I was a new user, I'd go for the Canon.

For existing Nikon users, though, this is a very attractive camera. It's only a little more expensive than the D300s and for that you receive more megapixels, a vastly improved AF system, and better video modes. Now, let's look at some of its features in more detail.

Controls

The D7000 has some really useful controls. The mode dial can be locked to prevent accidental switching between modes, and there are plenty of options for customization of certain functions. It is a camera that rewards careful setup at first purchase (and you need to have a certain level of knowledge to get the best out of it), but, after the initial work, you shouldn't need to dive into the menus too often.

One thing I really don't like about Nikon cameras is the placement of the ISO button. On the D7000, as with the D90, it's placed on the left-hand side, making it impossible to change without moving the camera away from your eye. Why Nikon doesn't follow Canon and put its ISO button on the top of the camera, near the shooting button, is a mystery to me. It's also a shame that Nikon hasn't implemented a better Live View system. Not being able to change the aperture while in manual mode in live view is undoubtedly a pain. But apart from these issues, the D7000 has very useful controls and offers a decent layout.

HD Movie Mode

The Nikon D7000 can shoot in full HD movie mode, and it is extremely easy to operate. Simply flick the Live View switch on and press the red record button to start and stop recording. There's a socket for attaching a stereo microphone, and you have full manual control and AF while recording.

Like most DSLRs in this price point, the camera suffers from a little distortion, but it is far less pronounced than in other models. The lack of a hinged, rotatable LCD screen also limits users when in movie mode, and it's a shame Nikon didn't include this.

SD Cards

The D7000 offers twin SD card slots. This can be extremely useful if you're shooting in different formats or want to take a lot of shots in quick succession. It's a very simple addition, but one that I think is very useful.

Image Quality

As with all of my camera reviews, what really counts is image quality. The D7000 doesn't disappoint, producing high quality images in most situations. Performances at high ISOs are exceptional, in both RAW and JPEG, and at ISO 6400 you can achieve perfectly acceptable prints.

The two H settings do show some deterioration in quality. Unlike many of its competitors, the Nikon D7000 performs really well in JPEG mode, giving images with good color reproduction. You'll still see the benefit if you shoot RAW though, gaining an increased dynamic range.

The only downside is the camera's tendency to over-expose in high contrast situations, by quite a large degree. All Nikon cameras tend to run a little bright on colors, even in mid-tones, and this reflects back into the problems seen in high contrast scenes. Obviously, this can be corrected by shooting RAW and doing some post-production work, or by dialing in a little negative exposure compensation.

Conclusion

The D7000 is a great enthusiast's camera in most respects, producing good images even in low-light conditions. It will certainly appeal to existing Nikon users, and it even gives the D300s a run for its money. It's just a shame that the D7000 isn't more competitively priced, particularly as users will need to invest in some good quality glass to get the most out of it.

Nikon D5100 DSLR Review

he Nikon D5100 is the manufacturer's latest edition to its consumer DSLR lineup. Replacing the D5000, the camera sits neatly in between the entry-level D3100 and the high-end D7000. The camera is clearly aimed at attracting enthusiasts who have outgrown their basic entry-level DSLRs, and it will be in close competition with Canon's T3i.

Continue reading this Nikon D5100 review to learn how it measures up to its competitors!

Description

• Resolution: 16.2 megapixel CMOS sensor
• ISO: ISO 100-6400, plus H1 and H2 settings equivalent to 12,800 and 25,600
• Focusing: 11 AF points
• Movie Mode: HD movie mode
• Flash: Built-in popup flash
• LCD Screen: 3-inch LCD panel, 921,000 pixels
• Battery: LiIon EN-EL14 rechargeable battery
• Dimensions: 128 x 97 x 79 mm (5.0 x 3.8 x 3.1 in.)
• Weight: 560 g (1.4 lbs.) (including battery)
• Maximum Image Size: 4928 x 3264 pixels (RAW and JPEG)

Pros

• Excellent image quality
• Articulated LCD screen
• Sophisticated AF system for the price

Cons

• Odd placement of some controls
• Movie mode is inconsistent, and prone to "bugs"
• Sluggish AF in Live View and Movie Mode

Nikon D5100 DSLR Review

Nikon's new mid-range offering is certainly a far prettier offering than its predecessor, the D5000. The camera gains the D7000's 16.2MP sensor, but it obviously misses out on some of that camera's high-end features. So there's no magnesium alloy body and fewer AF points, but there's no loss of image quality. It certainly produces excellent shots, but how does the camera hold up on other points?

Body and Controls

The D5100 is a small and neat camera, which fits easily into the hand. It feels substantial, but weighs less than its predecessor (as it has a plastic body). The camera also benefits from the addition of an articulated LCD screen with a side hinge. This feature makes the screen far easier to use, but the side hinge has led to a fairly major reshuffling of buttons.

Unlike other Nikons in this range, there are now no buttons at all on the left hand side of the screen. Buttons for controlling the menu and playback options have been moved to the right hand side of the screen, sitting alongside the four-way dial for controlling exposure parameters. On the top of the camera is a convenient switch next to the mode dial to quickly push the camera into Live View mode for fast recording.

However, yet again Nikon has not provided a direct access button for adjusting the ISO. Instead, you'll have to assign this to the function button, which sits on the front of the camera, next to the flash activation button, and it's too easy to get these two mixed up.

Autofocus

Like the D3100, the D5100 doesn't have an in-body autofocus motor, which means that the speed and accuracy of the autofocus is largely dependent on which lens you're using. This also means that the camera won't focus with some third-party lenses that don't have a built-in focusing motor and with non-AF-S Nikkor lenses.

Autofocus in still image mode is accurate, and it is acceptably fast, even with the 18-55 mm kit lens. However, in Live View and Movie Mode, the focusing becomes very slow, and it will even drift in and out of focus during recording.

Flash

Unlike higher spec models, the D5100 is not a wireless flash controller. However, the flash activation button does boast a couple of useful features. Hold the button and spin the control dial, and you'll have access to different flash modes. Holding down the button in conjunction with the exposure compensation button allows you to apply flash exposure compensation.

Image Quality

The D5100 really comes into its own in terms of image quality, which is fantastic, in both RAW and JPEG formats. It shares the D7000's sensor, but yet it doesn't seem to have the same overexposure problems in high contrast situations.

Even more impressively, at the higher ISO settings, noise levels are very low. The automatic noise reduction does a good job of preserving details. It's probably one of the best APS-C cameras available at present for shooting at high ISOs.

Simply put, the camera produces excellent images with a minimum of difficulty.

In Conclusion

Taken on its own merits, this is an excellent camera. It has lots of good features and produces beautiful images. It loses a star, though, for the complicated and somewhat random placing of some of its function buttons. This complicated arrangement may make users go for the simpler D3100 or pay more for the feature-rich D7000.

Nikon D5000 DSLR Review

The Bottom Line

The Nikon D5000 DSLR camera is a camera that generated a lot of buzz upon its release. After I had a chance to review the Nikon D5000, I can understand the reason for the buzz.

The D5000 is one of the best entry-level DSLR cameras I've had the chance to use. Much of the technology behind the D5000 is based on the Nikon D300, which is a slightly older, much more expensive DSLR camera. For that technology to have trickled down to the D5000 already is beneficial for beginning and intermediate photographers.

The best thing about the D5000 is it works well in fully manual mode, fully auto mode, or anything in between.

Pros

• Image quality is excellent
• D5000 provides great mix of manual control and ease of use for a DSLR
• LCD can twist and swivel away from the camera
• Battery life is good for DSLR camera
• Good collection of printed materials - quick start guide and user guide

Cons

• Learning the function of each button could be time consuming
• Autofocus can be slow, especially in low light
• Experienced photographers will want more features
• LCD could use more resolution

Description

• Resolution: 12.3 megapixels
• Optical zoom: N/A, uses interchangeable lenses
• LCD: 2.7-inch, 230,000 pixels (can tilt and rotate away from camera body)
• Maximum image size: 4288 x 2848 pixels
• Battery: Li-ion (rechargable)
• Dimensions: 4.1 x 5.0 x 3.1 inches
• Weight: 20 ounces (body only, no battery, no memory card)
• Image sensor: CMOS, 15.8 mm x 23.6 mm

Guide Review - Nikon D5000 DSLR Review

Image Quality

With an effective 12.3 megapixels of resolution and with a high-quality image sensor, the D5000 has excellent image quality. With the D5000, RAW images are of a better quality than JPEG images.

My D5000 review unit included an 18mm-55mm equivalent interchangeable lens, which had sharp focus and image quality. This lens worked great for wide angle shots; you'd want a different lens for telephoto shots, though. The lens focused clearly, both automatically and manually.

Performance

Start-up times are fast for the D5000, which doesn't always occur with a DSLR. At times, the autofocus doesn't work very fast, especially with low-light photography, but it is accurate.

You can use the LCD (called "live view") or the optical viewfinder to frame photos, but autofocus is slower when using live view, which is common among DSLR models.

The in-camera editing features are easy to apply.

Design

I found the D5000 easy to hold and use with the 18mm-55mm lens. The camera's weight is balanced nicely, and all of the buttons and lens rings were easily within reach. However, for those looking for their first DSLR camera, it's worth testing the D5000 (or any DSLR model) before buying it, as DSLR cameras are vastly different in operational technique, size, and weight than ultra compact point and shoot models.

The D5000 works very well in fully automatic mode, including the autofocus feature of the lens. However, if you want to learn more about photography, configuring the D5000's manual control features is easy, and the camera shows the settings used during image playback.

Finally, the D5000 includes an LCD that can be tilted and rotated away from the camera body, which is nice. You also can rotate the LCD next to the camera body, protecting the LCD when not using the camera. Unfortunately, the LCD's resolution is less than some DSLR models.

Kodak EasyShare Max Z990

The Kodak EasyShare Max Z990 is a full-featured ultrazoom that looks like a small DSLR and comes with a very long 30x optical zoom lens (28-840mm, 35mm equivalent).

The 12 megapixel camera features Kodak's first use of a back-illuminated CMOS sensor, designed to provide better low light image quality and increased speed of operation. The increase in speed made possible by the new sensor enables the camera to have very fast continuous shooting speed, a "sweep" panorama mode with which you can create an ultra-wide panorama image by slowly sweeping the camera, and an HDR mode, which takes three shots and combines them into one image with less dramatic contrast. Here's the view from the wide and telephoto ends of that big zoom range:

Wide angle

Telephoto

The camera includes full 1080p HD (1920 x 1080) movies with stereo sound and the use of optical zoom and continuous focus while in movie mode. The camera also includes full manual exposure controls, RAW shooting ability and other interesting features. Priced at $299.95 at the Kodak website, the EasyShare Max Z990 is substantially less expensive than similar cameras produced by Canon, Nikon and Sony.

In my "First Look" I noted that I was favorably impressed with the many features of the EasyShare Max Z990, its overall appearance, smoothly operating long lens and good image quality. I did have concerns about the camera's apparently slow shot-to-shot speed. After another week and a half with the camera I've had a chance to further explore these issues. Let's find out how the camera did.

BUILD AND DESIGN
The EasyShare Max Z990 looks and feels like a small DSLR. It has a comfortable, rubberized right hand grip and a solid, composite body. The lens has a rubber coating as well, which gives it added protection. The camera is no lightweight at 1.3 pounds (about 589 grams) including batteries and memory card, but the weight is distributed well. Overall, the camera has a very good "feel."

The camera comes with four rechargeable NiMH batteries and a charger, a USB cable, a lens cap with a strap, a neck strap, and a brief User Guide in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. According to the User Guide, when the camera is connected to the computer, a software downloader automatically runs and will download and install Kodak's software for transferring images to the computer and editing pictures. The software downloader did not work for me but I managed to load it from Kodak's website. Kodak's website also contains an Extended User Guide.

Ergonomics and Controls
The camera's rubber-coated, right hand grip permits you to easily hold the camera with one hand, though two hands are sometimes needed for added support, especially when using the long end of the zoom. The huge lens dominates the front of the camera, where it's bordered on both sides by stereo microphones. On one side of the lens is a combination auto focus assist/timer/video lamp. On top of the lens is the flash, which must be manually opened unless auto-flash is enabled and the camera decides that use of the flash is appropriate, in which case the flash will pop open.

The right side of the camera contains HDMI and USB ports that are covered by a rubber flap with a fragile-looking rubber tether. The camera's bottom contains the centrally located tripod mount which, unfortunately, is constructed of plastic, rather than metal. The compartment for the batteries and memory card is covered by a thick plastic door that I found difficult to open and close. The camera has 128MB of internal memory and uses SD and SDHC memory cards.

The camera's controls are located at the top and rear. On top is a chunky mode dial, with selections for Smart Capture, HDR, Creative Modes, Portrait, Sport, Scene Modes, Manual, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority and Program. The large, metal shutter button has a zoom control lever around it and both work well. You'll also find an on/off switch and buttons for continuous shooting (endless, 4 pictures at 5 fps, 4 pictures at 9 fps and 20 pictures at 60 fps), focus (normal, infinity, macro (as close as 10cm), super macro (as close as 1cm), and manual) and timer (10 seconds, 2 seconds and two shots).

At the rear is the large, 3.0-inch diameter LCD monitor, electronic viewfinder and a viewfinder/LCD switch. The rear also contains a speaker, a one-touch movie button, a selector wheel for selecting menu items, a four-way selector, a playback button and a share button, which allows you to automatically send your pictures and videos to social networking websites and email address once they are transferred to your computer. Next to the LCD are buttons for display, which adds or removes information from the LCD monitor, flash (auto, fill, red-eye reduction, off), film effects (simulates the classic Kodak films of Kodacolor, Ektachrome, Kodachrome, T-Max, Tri-X and Sepia) and delete.

Menus and Modes
The menu on the EasyShare Max Z990 is different than in other Kodak cameras I've used and it took some getting used to. The menu choices are always on the LCD screen, except when the display button is pressed. The menu items are on a black semi-transparent background that obscures the view of the LCD at the top and bottom, so it's a good idea to press the display button when you no longer need to refer to the menu. Menu items change depending on the mode selected. The camera's shooting modes are as follows:

• Smart Capture: The camera identifies the shooting conditions and automatically selects the most appropriate settings, including the applicable scene mode, exposure setting, and face recognition.
• Program: Users have access to most manual settings, including ISO (up to 6400), white balance, exposure compensation, flash compensation (6 levels), color mode (vivid, full, basic, black and white, sepia), contrast, sharpness, focus (face priority, multi-zone, center and selectable) and picture quality (fine, standard, basic and RAW).
• Manual: Users get access to all functions of Program mode plus control of shutter speed (1/2000 seconds to 16 seconds) and aperture (up to 10 settings).
• Aperture Priority: All functions of Program mode are available plus control of aperture.
• Shutter Priority: Users get all functions of Program mode plus control of shutter speed.
• Scene: Users can select a scene mode from sport, portrait, children, backlight, high ISO, bright, sunset, self-portrait, night portrait, candlelight, night landscape, landscape, stage, fireworks, flower, and panorama (manually combining three images).
• Creative: Users can select special scene modes including night scene (shooting moving objects in low light), dramatic (high color saturation), intelligent portrait (camera selects the best shot from multiple photos), photobooth (camera takes four timed pictures and arranges them in a vertical strip) and automatic panorama (camera takes a panorama shot when the user sweeps the camera vertically or horizontally).
• HDR: Camera takes three shots and combines them to even out the contrast.
• Video: HD (1080p (1920 x 1080) at 30 fps and 720p (1280 × 720) at 30 fps, VGA (640 × 480) at 30 fps, and WVGA (640 x 352 at 30 fps). Auto focus is active during videos and optical zoom may be used. .

HDR Off

HDR On

Display/Viewfinder
The EasyShare Max Z990 has a 3.0-inch diameter LCD monitor in a 4 x 3 aspect ratio with a resolution of approximately 460,000 dots. The monitor has three different brightness settings - auto where brightness is automatically adjusted based on the environment, high power and power save. The LCD monitor is a good one, and can be seen well in both shady and conditions but, like most LCD monitors, it is hard to see in bright sunshine. Fortunately the camera also comes with an electronic viewfinder. While the viewfinder is small and lacks a diopter adjustment for use without glasses, it is bright and sharp.

I found myself using the viewfinder almost exclusively when out of doors. The viewfinder serves another useful function. When shooting at the long end of the zoom, holding the viewfinder against your eye stabilizes the camera and helps to minimize blur.

DCR tests cameras for LCD screen quality, measuring for contrast ratio and a brightness unit called nits. The best LCD monitors have a contrast ratio above 500:1 and at least an output of 500 nits of a full white screen. The LCD monitor of the EasyShare Max Z990 was found to have a contrast ratio of 537:1 and to measure 446 nits for peak brightness and 0.83 for dark. These are all good scores and confirm my assessment of the high quality of the camera's LCD monitor.

Canon EOS Rebel T3 Full Review

Announced in February 2011 along with the more fully featured Rebel T3i, the EOS Rebel T3 slots into the middle of Canon's entry-level DSLR lineup based on MSRP. The T3 features a 12.2 megapixel CMOS sensor and improved DIGIC 4 processor, a nine point auto focus (AF) system with a single center cross-point sensor and a 100-6400 ISO sensitivity range.

A 1280 x 720 HD video capability is on board and still image continuous shooting rates are up to 3 fps. The camera uses a 63 zone dual-layer metering system for exposure calculation and you can review your results on a 2.7-inch LCD monitor. The T3 offers a range of scene-specific shooting modes in addition to the obligatory manual modes, along with RAW, JPEG or RAW/JPEG image capture options.

Canon has also included a new EOS Feature Guide "...with an enhanced Quick Settings Screen that now includes detailed descriptions of camera settings. The EOS Feature Guide is designed to help first-time users and beginning enthusiasts better understand each camera setting with descriptions and guided recommendations for when to utilize certain settings. Along with an explanation of camera settings and modes, the Feature Guide includes easy-to-understand directions of how to use particular settings such as aperture adjustment in Canon's Creative Auto mode."

Memory media compatibility is SD/SDHC/SDXC. The T3 will be available as a kit, paired with Canon's new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II zoom lens. Here's the view at each end of that zoom:

Wide Angle

Telephoto

Canon includes an eyecup, camera strap, battery and charger, interface cable, basic printed user's manual and CD-ROM software in each kit. The camera is also compatible with Canon's full line of EF and EF-S lenses.

The T3 is coming with us on our drive to Florida for the last space shuttle launch, STS-135 with shuttle Atlantis. With the 18-55 as its only lens, the T3 will be spending launch day in the hotel, but we'll find plenty of work for it coming and going from Cape Canaveral. So, off to Florida and Go Atlantis!

BUILD AND DESIGN
Built of composite materials, the T3 sits toward the smaller end of the DSLR size universe dimensionally - 5.1 x 3.9 x 3.1 inches. The deeply sculpted handgrip design and overall control layout is typical for the class as a whole.

Ergonomics and Controls
The handgrip area and camera back are covered with a rubberized material, but there's very little difference in feel between it and the hard plastic portions of the body. The little finger of my shooting hand curls under the body, with the thumb and shooting finger aligning nicely with the thumb rest and shutter button, respectively. Clearance between the handgrip and lens barrel is fairly good for my average sized hands.

Controls are fairly mainstream DSLR, with all shooting options located on the mode dial. There are dedicated playback, menu and display buttons on the camera back, along with cross keys for ISO, white balance, drive mode and AF mode, respectively. Video capture is accomplished via another dedicated button on the camera back, and a quick control button offers user inputs depending on the particular shooting mode.

Unfortunately, Canon provides only a basic printed user's manual with the T3 and this manual doesn't cover operations such as changing the picture style parameters with regards to sharpness, contrast, hue, or saturation for folks who choose to shoot in the manual modes. This process turns out to be fairly intuitive, particularly if you pay attention to the small print on the monitor as you try to access the settings and pick up that the display button is the control you need to activate.

The problem is the T3 is quick to overlay an explanation of what the particular picture style does and this covers the camera direction to use the display button to make changes. Once you've done it a few times it becomes second nature, but trying to figure it out for the first time, in the field and without benefit of printed explanations in the basic manual proved frustrating for a time.

Canon calls the automatic shooting modes "basic zone," and activating the quick control button in some basic zone modes offers the user the ability to influence the "ambience" of the shot - deviating from the standard look of the shot to vivid, soft, warm, intense, cool, brighter, darker or monochrome variations. In "creative zone" (manual) modes, the quick control button brings up a screen displaying the current shooting settings: mode, aperture, ISO exposure compensation, picture style, white balance (WB), auto lighting optimizer, raise flash control, AF and drive modes, metering mode, image-recording quality, battery level and number of possible shots. This screen permits these settings to be adjusted, but there is a redundancy with the ISO, AF, drive and WB functions, and not for the better. These four settings are changed more quickly by using the dedicated cross keys rather than bothering with the quick control screen.

Menus and Modes
Menus are simple and fairly straightforward, and vary in number depending on basic vs. creative zone modes. Basic zone mode menus tend to consist of two pages of shooting, playback and set-up, respectively; creative zone menus run to four pages for shooting, two for playback and three for set-up. Creative zone modes also offer a "my menu" option not found with basic zone modes.

Shooting modes are typical entry-level DSLR, offering manual controls along with automatic and some scene-specific options to ease the transition trauma for long-time Point and Shoot users moving into their first DSLR.

• Auto: Camera handles virtually all settings and user has very limited input.
• Flash Off: Auto mode with flash disabled; very limited user input.
• Creative Auto: Auto mode, but user can change depth of field, drive mode, flash firing and scene ambience.
• Portrait: Auto mode blurs background, smoothes hair and skin; user can also influence ambience.
• Landscape: Auto mode with wide depth of field, enhanced blue and green colors and increased sharpness; user can influence ambience.
• Close-up: Auto mode, user can influence ambience. Close up distance is determined by individual lens performance parameters. Use of dedicated macro lens is recommended for 1:1 reproduction ratios.
• Sports: Auto mode with camera settings optimized to capture moving subjects (continuous shooting rate, AI servo AF); user can influence ambience.
• Night Portrait: Auto mode with camera settings optimized for a long shutter to expose dark backgrounds along with flash to light subject in foreground; user can influence ambience.
• A-Dep: An auto mode where camera establishes settings to brings objects in foreground and background into focus; user has wide variety of inputs.
• Program Auto: Camera sets aperture and shutter speeds, user has wide variety of inputs and can vary aperture/shutter combinations via main dial.
• Aperture Priority: User sets aperture, camera sets shutter; wide variety of user inputs.
• Shutter Priority: User sets shutter speed, camera sets aperture; wide variety of user inputs.
• Manual: User sets aperture and shutter speed; wide variety of user inputs.
• Movie: Capture 1280 x 720HD video at 25 or 30 frames per second.

Display/Viewfinder
The 2.7-inch LCD monitor has a 230,000 dot composition and is adjustable for seven levels of brightness. Coverage is approximately 99%. In our studio testing the monitor recorded a 473 nit peak brightness, just below the 500 nit threshold that generally delineates better monitor performance outdoors. Contrast ratio was a fairly high 1006:1 - and in my experience camera monitors with lower peak brightness values and higher contrast ratios seem to be a bit easier to use in bright outdoor light. In practice, the T3 monitor was fairly usable outdoors, although the right combination of sun angles could still play havoc with image composition.

The monitor must be used for video capture, but the viewfinder should be everyone's method of choice for still image capture in most cases. And while most of the T3's current competition carries identically sized 2.7-inch monitors, these cameras are for the most part earlier generation models. At least one competitor has had the last two generations of its entry-level model with 3.0-inch monitors, despite the fact that the overall camera body size is slightly smaller than the T3.

The viewfinder features a diopter adjustment for eyesight and while its coverage is about 95% (thus leading to things creeping into the captured image that weren't visible at composition), the use of the viewfinder has significant power savings over the monitor for still image capture. The viewfinder image was OK - not the largest or brightest ever, but serviceable in an entry-level unit.