Digital Camera News and Reviews

Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6

DIWA Labs has tested the Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM SAL70300G lens. The lens was tested on the Sony Alpha 700 DSLR camera body.
This superzoom lens did not show any major weaknesses, but had some vignetting at max aperture. Seems like a very nice zoom lens for photographers using Sony cameras.

Read all the tests of the Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM SAL70300G lens here.
The tests done by DIWA Labs are very technical so you need to read their test guide to understand the test results.
Buy the Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM SAL70300G lens from BH Photo and get free shipping.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28

Imaging Resource has reviewed the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 digital camera. This superzoom camera got a 18x optical zoom and has full manual controls.

Some key features for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28:
-10.1 million effective pixels CCD sensor
-18x (27-486mm equivalent) optical zoom Leica DC Vario-Elmarit lens, F2.8-4.4
-Optical image stabilization
-2.7″ LCD screen
-RAW format support
-Full manual controls

Imaging Resource ends up giving the Panasonic camera a very good rating as the camera is able to produce excellent pictures both at wide angle and telephoto shots.
It looks like a very interesting all-around camera.
Read the full review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 compact camera here.
Buy the Lumix DMC-FZ28 from BH Photo and get free shipping.

Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4 G

The German testing website Photozone.de has tested the Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4 G lens from Nikon. This new prime lens from Nikon have built in Silent Wave Motor that make them able to auto focus on the D60/D40x/D40 DSLR bodies.

Photozone ends up giving the Nikon lens a “Highly Recommended” rating due to the fact that lens is able to produce pictures of high quality, good build quality and ok auto focus speed. The only downsides are some soft corners and a bit busy bokeh at the widest apertures
Read the full review of the Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4 G lens here.
Buy the Nikon Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4 G lens from BH Photo.

Nikon D3 DSLR

Nikon has updated the firmware for their Nikon D3 Full Frame DSLR to version 2.01. The new firmware includes a lot of different fixes including focus issues, black dots in some rare cases and issues with connection to some lenses.

You can download the firmware version 2.01 for the Nikon D3 DSLR camera here.

Information from Nikon:
About this firmware update
This service provides software for upgrading D3 firmware to v2.01. When performing this firmware upgrade, be sure to upgrade both A and B firmware. Be aware that operation of your D3 is not guaranteed if either A or B firmware is upgraded while the other firmware is not upgraded.

The following improvements have been made in version 2.01

– Geodetic information is now displayed in ViewNX Ver. 1.2.0 or later and Capture NX 2 Ver. 2.1.0 or later for images captured with the GPS Unit GP-1 mounted on the camera.
– Autofocus-response performance in focus mode C (Continuous-servo AF mode) with relatively dark subjects has been increased.
– When the AF-ON button is pressed, the monitor turns off and a focus point can now be selected using the multi selector.

– Photo information displayed in full-frame playback has been modified as follows:
HI-, LO- has been changed to Hi, Lo
WARM TONE has been changed to WARM FILTER
COLOR CUSTOM has been changed to COLOR BALANCE

– Manamah, displayed in the Time zone options for the World time item in the setup menu, has been changed to Manama.
– An issue that, in extremely rare cases, resulted in noticeable black dots in images captured with Long exp. NR in the shooting menu set to On has been resolved.
– When the Speedlight SB-800 was mounted on the camera with flash mode set to Distance-priority manual (GN) mode, and then the exposure meters were reactivated or the camera was turned on, the distance information displayed on the SB-800 changed. This issue has been resolved.
– An issue that, in some rare cases, caused images captured with the following lenses to be under-exposed, has been resolved.
AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED
AF VR Zoom-Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED (5.0x)