Photography and Digital Camera

Review based on a production Canon PowerShot TX1

Announced back in February just before this year’s PMA, the PowerShot TX1 is an unusual offshoot of the hugely popular IXUS / ELPH range that attempts to straddle the divide between digital stills and digital video cameras with its unusual vertical styling and 720p HDTV video capture. Despite its diminutive dimensions (it’s little bigger than a pack of playing cards) the TX1 packs a fairly impressive punch, offering a 10x optically stabilized zoom, 7.1MP CCD, vari-angle LCD and 1080i HDTV component video output. So does the TX1 represent a new direction for compact digital cameras or has Canon set off down a blind alley? Let’s find out, starting as ever with the headline features:

• New vertical design
• New 1/2.5-inch 7.1 million pixel CCD
• Vari-angle LCD monitor (1.8-inch)
• 10x optical (39-390mm equiv.) zoom lens – 12 elements (one UD & one Aspheric element)
• Optical image stabilization
• ISO 80-1600
• DIGIC III and Face Detection
• 720p (1280 x 720) movies at 30 fps with stereo sound
• 1080i component video output
• Flexible movie / still shooting Shoot a full-resolution still image during movie recording, or start movie recording by simply pressing record button

PowerShot TX1 specifications

Review based on a production E-410

The Olympus E-400 was announced on the 14th September 2006, just before the Photokina show in Cologne, Germany. At the time there was much excitement about this compact and lightweight camera however this turned to disappointment for many of our readers when we discovered the camera would not be available in North America. Fast forward six months and we have the solution, the new E-410, gone is the Kodak CCD replaced with a (Matsushita) Live MOS Image Sensor which can provide Full Time Live-View on the LCD monitor, an updated image processor and a few other added features. So finally an affordable, compact, lightweight 4/3 digital SLR for everyone, including those who live in North America.

New features (compared to the E-400)

• Ten megapixel Live MOS Image Sensor (provides Full Time Live-View)
• Auto Focus in Live View (although still requires live view freeze and mirror flap)
• TruePic III processor (faster, better image quality, better noise reduction)
• Improved continuous shooting; still 3 fps but unlimited at JPEG HQ or 7 RAW
• No warning message at higher sensitivities (E-400 warned from ISO 800 upwards)

Two new ZUIKO Zoom Digital lenses

In conjunction with their announcement of the E-410 Olympus also announced two more ZUIKO Zoom lenses. There is a new kit lens in the 14-42 mm F3.5 – F5.6 which provides a nice wide angle three times zoom coverage equivalent to 28 – 84 mm on a 35 mm camera, next up is the 40-150 mm F4.0 – F5.6 which when combined with the kit lens would give you a full 28 – 300 mm equiv.

Review based on a production Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro

The successor to Fuji’s FinePix S3 Pro made its first, fleeting appearence at Photokina in September 2006, though it didn’t start shipping until the spring of 2007 – keeping in line with Fuji’s approx two-year gap between SLR models. The S5 Pro may have the same sensor (well, almost – more about that later) as the S3 Pro, but as a camera it is a quantum leap forward over the models that preceded it, being based on the highly-regarded Nikon D200 (all the previous models were based on consumer level Nikon film cameras).

Being essentially a D200 with a Super CCD sensor and Fuji processor means the S5 Pro enjoys all the benefits of Nikon’s superb ‘semi pro’ body; weather-sealed body with a magnesium alloy chassis, latest generation focus, flash and metering systems, better shutter, better viewfinder and expansive lens compatibility. It is also the first Fuji SLR to be a truly ‘integrated’ digital camera; previous models were based on film cameras (supplied by Nikon) which forced Fuji to use a clunky ‘camera of two halves’ design, complicating control (and in the early models meaning the ‘digital’ and ‘camera’ parts had separate batteries). Finally there are some changes under the hood, including a tweaked sensor, new processor and a host of minor (and a few major) feature upgrades.

The S3 Pro – despite a hefty price tag – carved out a niche for itself amongst wedding and portrait photographers willing to sacrifice speed and durability in order to take advantage of the extra dynamic range offered by the SR sensor. On paper the S5 Pro (which has a smaller $400 price premium over the Nikon D200) seems to address most of the issues we – and many potential purchasers – had with the S3 Pro, so let’s find out if it delivers…

Improvements of FinePix S5 Pro over FinePix S3 Pro

Where the original S1 Pro and S2 Pro did well because they offered high resolution at a low price (the S1 was the first ‘affordable’ digital SLR in the days before the consumer DSLR even existed), by the time the S3 Pro surfaced it looked expensive and under-powered. This was due in no small part to Fuji’s reliance on Nikon for the ‘photographic’ part of the camera, and Nikon’s obvious reluctance to give them anything too good. That’s all changed with the S5 Pro, which is the most significant upgrade the FinePix Pro series has ever seen. Based on a Nikon D200 it really is a totally different kettle of fish. The key improvements (adapted from Fuji’s press release) are listed below:

• Improved Super CCD SR Pro features an optimised low-pass filter to reduce moiré
• Newly developed RP Processor Pro features two cycles of noise reduction with a claimed reduction in noise at higher sensitivities (camera now allows shooting at ISO 3200)
• Users can now choose from up to six preset Dynamic Range settings between 100% and 400%
• Three new variations of the original film simulation mode (F1) have been added (five modes in total
• Improved Nikon lens compatability (including manual focus AI lenses)
• RAW+ jpeg (4,256 x 2,848 pixels, 3,024 x 2,016 pixels, 2,304 x 1,536 pixels) dual-save mode
• Robust lightweight magnesium-alloy body with moisture- and dust-proof seals
• Durable shutter unit stands up to approximately 100,000 cycles
• Adoption of high-precision i-TTL flash control
• 11-point AF sensor with faster autofocusing than the FinePix S3 Pro
• Supports 1/3, 1/2, and 1 stop lens aperture control
• Shutter speed 30 sec. to 1/8000 sec, maximum flash sync speed of 1/250 sec.
• 3 levels of custom function locking with password protection
• 2.5 inch LCD with 235,000 pixels, gives 100% frame coverage.
• Colour and monochromatic 30 seconds live view function to check focusing
• Li-ion rechargeable battery
• Face Detection Technology for post image verification

Fujifilm SuperCCD SR II

Like the S3 Pro before it, the S5 Pro utilizes Fujifilm’s unique “extended dynamic range” SuperCCD SR sensor. This features two photodiodes at each photosite (a single ‘input pixel’) and is designed to overcome the inability of standard CCD sensors to capture the full range of tones in scenes with a wide dynamic range (from deep shadows to bright highlights).

The ‘S’ pixel has normal sensitivity and captures the same range of light as a conventional CCD photosite, the ‘R’ pixel is smaller and has a lower sensitivity and is designed to capture detail above the saturation point of the ‘S’ pixel (in other words the brightest highlights). The ‘Real Photo Processor Pro’ can then combine the information from the ‘S’ and ‘R’ pixels to produce an extended dynamic range and avoid the loss of detail due to over-exposure..

Like the S3 Pro the S5 uses some nifty processing to turn what is effectively a six megapixel capture into a twelve megapixel output image (in its earliest incarnations Super CCD always came with a healthy dose of interpolation). This is despite the fact that the S and R ‘pixels’ are in fact dual photosites that are combined to produce a single input pixel.