Digital Camera News and Reviews

Canon PowerShot G11

Photography Blog has reviewed the exciting new compact camera from Canon, the Canon PowerShot G11. I find the G11 exciting because Canon has lowered the amount of pixels on the image sensor compared to the G10. Let us hope this move will improve image quality.

Some key features for the Canon PowerShot G11:
-10 megapixel image sensor
-5x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 28-140mm)
-Optical image stabilization
-RAW + JPEG shooting

Photography Blog ends up giving the Canon PowerShot G11 a “Highly Recommended” 4.5 out of 5 stars rating. It gets a good rating because the camera is able to produce very good pictures and has a lot of nice features. The only downside is that you can not use other lenses which you can on the new Olympus Pen 1 and Panasonic GF1.
Read the full review of the Canon PowerShot G11 camera here.

Pentax Optio P80

Trusted Reviews has tested the Pentax Optio P80 digital compact camera. This Pentax camera feature a 4x optical zoom lens and a 12.1 megapixel image sensor, and has an ultra-compact design.

Here are some features of the Pentax Optio P80 camera:
-4x optical zoom (equivalent to 27.5-110mm)
-12.1 megapixel image sensor
-Face detection
-Image stabilization system
-Widescreen HD movie recording at 30fps

Trusted Reviews ends up giving the Optio P80 an overall score of eight out of ten points. The Pentax camera scores higest on build quality and value while scoring lowest on image quality as Pentax could have done a better job with the quality of the pictures that this camera produces.
Read the full review of the Pentax Optio P80 camera here.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Beta

Adobe has announced a new beta version of their popular photo processing program Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Version 3 of Lightroom has several new features and improvements including more intutive importing which I find very intersting as I have been having a hard time explaining the importing system to new Lightroom users. We also get “unparalleled” noise reduction and sharpening tools, and the slideshow function has also been improved.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 beta is availble as a free download for everyone using Mac and Windows

Press release:
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Beta Now Available

New Lightroom beta delivers faster performance and refined image processing

London. — October 22, 2009 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today introduced Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 3 beta software for Macintosh and Windows®, a public preview of new and improved functionality to be delivered in the next major release. Lightroom is the essential digital photography workflow solution, helping serious amateur and professional photographers quickly import, manage, enhance, and showcase all their images from one application. Available as a free download on Adobe Labs, Lightroom 3 beta delivers a preview of new tools that will be in Lightroom 3, including more intuitive importing, unparalleled noise reduction and sharpening tools and enhanced slideshow capabilities. Adobe encourages photographers to test this early selection of new features and provide the product team with their feedback.

“We are extremely fortunate that a strong community of photographers have rallied around Lightroom, helping to evolve the application and making it a meaningful part of their photographic workflows,” said Kevin Connor, vice president of product management for Professional Digital Imaging at Adobe. “While we’re still hard at work on Lightroom 3, we recognise the value our customers bring to the development process and want their input so we can deliver the best final product possible.”

New in Lightroom 3 Beta
Lightroom 3 beta has been completely redesigned with under-the-hood efficiencies to better handle growing image libraries and improve responsiveness with a higher-quality processing engine. In the Library module, a rebuilt import system makes bringing photos into the software more intuitive. Users can easily specify the source and destination of their images, and save common processing, metadata or destination settings as easy-to-reuse presets.

In the Develop module, an overhauled processing engine allows users to create the highest quality images. Improved Capture Sharpening and Colour Noise Reduction tools provide superior results while still preserving an image’s edge detail and contrast. A new Grain tool adds a film-style grain to images, and two new Vignette modes help photographers get a more natural look.

Lightroom 3 beta also offers advanced output options, including the ability to export slideshows as videos with audio and title screens that can be posted to video-sharing sites or optimised for mobile media. New watermarking capabilities enable photographers to embed text or graphic information directly on an image and then adjust the size, position and opacity. In addition, photographers can customise print layouts and save settings for future use, giving them refined control over their images.

Adobe Photoshop Family
Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended software are at the heart of the Photoshop family, joined by solutions for users at every level who want to bring out the best in their digital images. Photoshop Lightroom addresses the workflow needs of serious amateur and professional photographers, helping them manage, find, enhance and showcase images in impactful ways. Adobe Photoshop Elements software provides exciting tools and sharing options for photo enthusiasts. Lastly, snap shooters can access Photoshop.com for free to simply fix and enhance photos, and quickly share those images on Photoshop.com or on social-networking sites.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 beta is available as a free download to anyone on both Macintosh and Windows platforms. Visit http://www.labs.adobe.com/downloads to learn more and download the beta. Feedback can be submitted on the Lightroom forums: http://forums.adobe.com/community/lightroom. Users also can connect with Adobe at http://www.facebook.com/lightroom or http://www.twitter.com/AdobeLR, and can add the tag #AdobeLR3 to tweets about the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 beta.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe revolutionises how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit http://www.adobe.com/uk.

Olympus Stylus-9000 / Mju 9000

Lets Go Digital has reviewed the Olympus Mju 9000 (also known as Stylus-9000) compact digital camera. This Olympus camera feature 12 megapixels and 10x optical zoom.

Some key features for the Olympus Stylus-9000 / Mju 9000:
-12 megapixel sensor
-10x optical zoom lens (28-280mm)
-2.7″ LCD screen
-Dual image stabilization

Lets Go Digital ends up giving the Mju 9000 a “Good” 72 rating. It gets an average score because there are many similar cameras on the marked and the Mju 9000 scores moderately compared to them. There is visible noise from ISO 200 and there is some lens blur. On the positive side the camera scores high on design.
Read the full review of the Olympus Mju 9000 camera here.