 On
the Net
with Chris Goh
The best buys around
At the end of each month we will have a dedicated section to just new and cool
stuff and will review a couple of products and/or gadgets that may be of interest
to you. This week we look at a new digital camera, aimed at the budding photographer
wanting more.
As the owner of five digital cameras you'd think I'd be happy but the perfect
camera has still elluded me. Each one I own has it's own endearing quality but
I'm fussy.
Without a doubt the best value for money top end digital is the Canon EOS 350D,
which has made digital SLR cameras very accessible to most. Canon has pretty much
dominated the digital camera space this year and its Powershot range is regarded
in the industry as one of the great digital line-ups that offer great value for
money.
Panasonic has made a great stab with its Lumix range, especially with the DMC-FZ5,
and the target that this camera is aimed at is what I'm most interested in. This
range of camera is from the $700 to $1200 mark and is where vendors are trying
to create a camera that has all the power of the SLR and excellent macro and zoom
with the portability of a point and shoot. You'll find these cameras are heavier
than the point and shoots, have got the great features of the SLR but have poor
ISO shooting abilities, slow point and shoot response times, and difficult menus.
What attracts me to this range however are the cameras that appear with image
stabilisers, because to get one of these on a SLR you have to pay more than the
original price of the camera.
Enter the long awaited DSC-H1 from Sony, and when I say long awaited, those
who have owned a Mavica 95+ know what I mean. Sony's image stabilisation system
for its cameras has been renowned, the Carl Zeiss lens is amazing and the zoom
of Mavicas (one having 16x optical) has never been repeated. Add to this the easy
interface and the best shoot and print representation (most pictures I've taken
don't look the same on the camera as on print) and you start to know why I like
this camera.
The first thing I noticed about the DSC-H1 is the very quick (and accurate)
auto focus to shoot time, which is great for action shots. The large LCD screen
really helps those that need something big but the picture's very bright. Night
shooting is where Sony, the makers of 0 Lux technology, really shine. With most
cameras it's a guess, and point for more than a quarter of a second, but with
this one you can still place and focus accurately on objects in low light. The
pictures can be a bit grainy but is better than most in this range and my only
wish was that this five mega pixel camera was eight, but then it would cut into
Sony's other market. It's 12x optical with image stabiliser means you have a camera
with some serious zoom without having to change lenses, and for about $800 it's
a great camera even though you can get some at six mega pixels for this price.
Serious photographers may not like the higher than normal contrast shots, but
I love them as they make my shots very clean.
To my other love this month - home theatre systems. There has been a comeback
from the LCD projectors this year with the creation of the 3 LCD System (actually
the concept is old but its application in projectors is new) and what it essentially
does now is minimise the screen door effects that lovers of DLP projectors harp
about. But one thing's for sure, at $1500 or less you can now buy yourself an
excellent projector. Panasonic has come up with a beauty called PT-LM2 for less
than $1500 and the quality is what you would have paid more than $3000 for 12
months ago. If you're a DLP fan, right now Dell is offering the 1100MP for $1200
and with a 1400 Lumens and high 2100:1 ratio it's a great price. I wish I could
try both these projectors side by side, to give you a more accurate picture between
these two excellent products, but hopefully it will happen in the not too distant
future. I have had the 2300MP side by side with the Panasonic and I have to say,
if brightness wasn't an issue, the high definition pictures turned up better on
the Panasonic. So I can only assume the 1100MP based on the same DDR and de-interlacing
technology would be the same. Those who buy a plasma seriously don't know what
they're missing out on with a projector.
Next month we'll look at flat screens and laptops.
Hotsites
- www.nla.gov.au/oz/genelist.html
- We have visited the National Library a few times in my last 10 years of writing
but the genealogy part of this site has been updated and is an excellent base
from where people who are interested in their origins can start.
- www.infoplease.com
- Interested in world history, culture, almanacs, biographies, encyclopaedias
or just learning about anything to do with the human race? Well start here, with
everything from science to sport, history to social science, as well with a good
look at news around the world.
- gamehippo.com
- Software is getting cheaper in price but that's because there are ever more
players. If you want to download games that are totally free, visit this site
to find games in different genres that can get you going.
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