Lily Allen by John Wright

Leica Camera announced it will form creative partnership with noted fashion photographer John Wright. The UK celebrity photographer, Wright, has become the image model for the Leica S-System.

Wright will use the Leica camera and document the S-System first hand with activities that include interviews, workshops at the Leica Store Mayfair ‘Studio S’ and of course, photoshoots.

Leica will be Wright’s main camera as he involves himself in high profile photo shoots through out 2010.

Wright has risen to become top celebrity photographer in the music, television and show business across the globe and has contributed to creating icon images of pop culture.  This includes taking a pictorial with pop star Lily Allen and a couple of panthers. Wright’s photo won ‘Magazine Cover of the Year’ in 2009. Wright is also the last photographer to take the late Michael Jackson’s portrait sitting.

An insight into Wright’s incredible schedule amongst high profile celebrities can be illustrated through his 2009 shot list: Lady GAGA, U2, Rihanna, Pink, Kings of Leon, Noel Gallagher, Florence and the Machine, Peaches Geldof, Cheryl Cole, Derren Brown, Killers, Sir Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Muse, Elbow, Robert Plant, Snow Patrol, Green Day, Coldplay, Mike, Dizzy Rascal, Arctic Monkeys, Mark Ronson, Kasabian, Prodigy, Bruce Springsteen, Jamie Cullum and Ricky Gervais.

Leica said that it aims to explore Leica S-System excellent capabilities with the talented Wright.

According to John Wright Leica is “one of the premier camera manufacturers in the world and I’m delighted to have this opportunity to be involved with the S-System. My initial experiences have been extremely positive. Ease of use, reliability and incredible image resolution are all essential in my work, and the S2 has delivered in every department. The sheer presence of the camera on the shoots I’ve used it on, its beautiful design and build quality, as well as the instant impact of the Leica ‘red dot’ have all brought something to the whole shoot experience with clients and subjects alike.”

Here are the top 5 good buy digital cameras found in the shopping mecca of the internet universe, Amazon.com. We enumerated bargain cameras that made it to the top list and garnered good customer reviews. We did extra research to see how the point and shoot cameras rated for professionals in the digital imaging world.

Take note, the digital cameras listed are not the latest cameras to come out of the market in 2010, but these are the top rated.

Hopefully, in just a quick glance, this digital camera review could give you options as you decide your next bargain and digital camera purchase.

1. Canon PowerShot SX20IS

- The camera has 12.1 mega-pixels and a fantastic 20x wide angle optical zoom. It takes HD videos and uses .mov movie format which is easily unloadable to site like YouTube. The 20x zoom can be used for video taking which is great. The 2.5 LCD screen can be tilted enabling different angle shots. The digital SLR type body looks great while still offering point and shoot control.

Price: US$ 349.95, down from a US$601.03

Good: LCD that can be tilted. Excellent macro focus. Can zoom during movie capture. Uses SD cards.

Bad: Runs with AA batteries. A little slow in CCD sensor. A little bit blurry in low light.

Verdict: Not a standout but good value for money with the 20x megazoom

2. Nikon L20

- The Nikon L20 has 10 mega-pixel and a 3.6 optical zoom. A huge 3.0 LCD screen is convenient for taking pictures although it has no view finder for sunny days.

Price: US$ 89.00 down from release price of US279.95

Good: The price! 3.0 LCD is huge and fairly nice color display. The camera is so easy to use, it’s the kind of camera you give to grandma (if your grandmother was 70 years old and afraid of gadgets). Produce nice quality print.

Bad: Runs with AA batteries. Very slow processor. Basic camera with no fancy features. Slow (oh yeah, we mentioned that. Bulky

Verdict: For US89.00 it’s a reliable camera, basic, no fuss and a good buy. For techies and semi-techies stay away from this one.

3. Sony Cybershot DSC-W290

- The Sony W290 has a 12.1 mega-pixel sensor and an average 5x optical zoom. It takes high definition movie and has Sony stereo which is a nice touch. Sony colors are known to be brilliant. It has a 3.0 LCD and a smile capture feature.

Price: US$ 166.45 down from US$229.99

Good: Cool design, easy interface and practical controls. Has wide-angle and 5x zoom. 3.0 LCD

Bad: Video has no optical zoom. Expensive memory stick, no SD memory option.

Verdict: Excellent beginner’s camera with a nice price to feature ratio.

4. Canon Powershot SD1200

- We love to think Canon is one of the top (if not the top) manufacturers of point-and-shoot cameras. The SD1200 is one of the best out there. The design is terrific, not too slim but sturdy. The finish of the camera looks expensive. It has 10 megapixels, 3x optical zoom and has a 2.5 PureColor LCD screen.

Price: US$ 149.00 down from US$179.00

Good: Classy camera finish and comes in fun colors (pink, orange, blue, gray, green. Fast CCD processor means less lag time when taking photos. Amazing picture quality and colors! Decent low light photos.

Bad: The picture in LCD looks better than when you upload to your computer. Only has 3x optical zoom.

Verdict: Excellent camera for those who want a small camera that does amazing pictures. Fast and worth the US149.00. We guarantee the Canon SD1200 to be excellent.

5. Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3

- The Lumix ZS3 has 12 mega-pixels sensor and 12x optical zoom. Fast sensor and takes quality photos. Offers 720p HD movie with stero mode. Large 3.0 LCD screen.

Price: US$ 239.95 down from US$349.95

Good: Can take 720p movies and uses zoom during movie capture. Zoom and wide angle lens in small body is excellent!

Bad: Few manual control for a US$239 camera

Verdict: Great camera for those who use automatic features. Panasonic creates nice pictures and vibrant color. 12 zoom lens is great for small body.

Mamiya announced that its new DM40 medium format camera will be available for US$21,990 or £14,655. The Mamamiya DM40 is partnered with a 80mm f.2.8 D series lens sold at US$19,990 or £13,314.  The shipping for the Japanese medium format camera will start April.

You can stop drooling now.

Mamiya DM40 has a 40 mega-pixel, 44 x 33 mm sensor and features true 16 bit/channel RAW capture. The medium format camera has a ISO range of 80-800 and takes a .08 second per frame photo.

The Mamiya uses an adapter which allows the camera to be compatible with both medium and large format.

According to Mamiya’s press release the heart of the DM40 system is the newly introduced “DF” camera-core technology soley developed by the company. It has a two user-selectable shutter system, the leaf or focal plane. The Mamiya DM40 also has a flash synchronization that fill-in bright ambient light.

Photographers and hobbyist unite in universal lust for this medium format camera.

Creativity and photography should be two terms that coincide together. Lately, however, photography is closely associated with, well, a lot of money. It is interesting to know that a group of photo enthusiasts have been building a large fan base for Lomography and lomo cameras. These cheap analogue film cameras that are designed to produce a single photographic effect have become a popular trend.

Actually, Lomograph photography has become a legitimate sub-culture in photography and for most ‘lomoheads’ out there, a way of life.

Right this moment, a lot of people (mostly men, sorry to stereotype) take photography as a hobby because of the gadgets, just ask professional photographer Ken Rockwell. The group of individuals who want to take photographs for creative expression are not as populous.

Lomography has become the means by which photographers can really convey themselves as artistic visual painters. For the ladies, the brooding artist and his plastic lomo camera is largely more attractive than the guy who takes 30 minutes to explain the triumphs of an expensive tripod.

So yes, having a lomo camera makes you cuter.

LOMO HISTORY
In the 1990s, students from Vienna discovered a cheap plastic Russian camera called Lomo Kompakt Automat. It sparked a new kind of artistic experimental photography that resulted in unorthodox images. The way of thinking is to take as many Lomograph snapshots, shoot in the most unusual angle and develop them as cheaply as possible. Lomographers usually do a group exhibit and showcase their works together. You will see, mounted on panels, hundreds and hundreds of Lomographs which create astonishingly colourful, diverse and compelling images.

From an underground scene in the 1990s, Lomography has become mainstream form of photography today. There are LomographicAmabassadors who look after LomographicFriends (let’s just call them lomohead) that span 35 countries around the world. There are special LomographicShootings, publications, international and local art projects, films and so on.

Famous lomoheads include Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Pulp, Underworld, Helmut Lang, Moby and Robert Redford.

The premise of Lomography is “Don’t Think, Just Shoot”. Lomo photography is to absorb the moment and capture that event candidly, creatively and naturally rather than obsessively.

10 Golden Rules of Lomography
These rules are from the official LomographySociety
1. Take your camera everywhere you go.
2. Use it any time- day and night.
3. Lomography is not interference in your life, but part of it.
4. Try the shot from the hip.
5. Approach the object of your Lomographic desire as close as possible.
6. Don’t think.
7. Be fast.
8. You don’t have to know beforehand what you capture on film.
9. Afterward either.
10. Don’t worry about any rules.

Check out the Lomo LC-A+ Golden Edition. They are only selling 130 pieces. Each Lomo Gold Edition camera comes with a kit and is sold for £500. Available at http://shop.lomography.com/lomo-lc-a-gold

Panasonic boasts the new Lumix DMC G2 digital camera. The Panasonic G2 is the world’s first Micro Four Thirds camera with touchscreen capability.

Panasonic Lumix G2, the world’s first interchangeable lens camera system , also boast of 12.1 megapixel and newly developed Venus Engine HGII processor. The Lumix G2 can also shoot high definition video function at 30 frames per second on a 1,280 x 720 pixels setting.

Other features of the Panasonic Lumix G2 include an expanded sensitivity range which spans up to ISO 6400/39° and an interrupted Live View feed bust shooting.  The Micro Four thirds camera comes with a 14-42 mm kit zoom lens. Camera fanatics out there can avail of the Panasonic Lumix G2 this June 2010.

THE BACKSTORY

In 2008, Lumix introduced the first camera for the Micro Four Thirds standards dubbed as the Panasonic Lumix DMC G1. It was the first Micro Four Thirds camera, it resembles a typical digital SLRs but in a more compact size. The Panasonic Lumix G1 was not capable of recording video. Then enter G1’s successor, the Pansonic Lumix G2 (a sensible moniker), a Micro Four Thirds camera that is so much the same as the G1 but made more powerful with a video option and a touchscreen LCD which you can flip out and swivel.

TOUCH IT!

The Panasonic Lumix G2 has a menu LCD that shows crucial details  like aperture, shutter speed, ISO sensitivity and metering mode in one glance. A user can change the setting by tapping on the touch screen.

Another cool feature, according to Panasonic,  is that the Lumix G2 has a touch-to-shoot function which lets users tap on the subject. This allows the Lumix G2 to automatically focus the lens and trigger the shutter. When it comes to the video-recording mode, the user can refocus on other parts of the scene by tapping on the display as well.

Once you lock on the subject by touch, the camera tracks the subject even if it moves with the AF tracking function. Just one touch on the screen lets you select the part and size of the AF area with the 1-area AF. The 1-area AF in Face Detection even allows you to set finer focus on the persons eye while capturing a great portrait.. The Multi-area AF allows users to set a group of AF point according to the composition. With the Intelligent Scene Selector in the iA mode, the camera automatically switches to the appropriate mode according to the subject touched, for example, a touch on a human face switches to the portrait mode and the a touch on the background or a scenery to the scenery mode while a touch on the subject close to the camera to the macro mode. In the manual focusing, you can enlarge the key part of the subject by just a touch to select 1x, 5x or 10x zoom. The touch operation dramatically reduces the time of changing settings in the menu, too.

The Panasonic G2 is said to be a good camera for beginners who want to have an easier learning curve when it comes to interchangeable lens system cameras. The design which doesn’t  stray away from typical digital SLR designs makes newbies, who are probably used to the more mainstream digital SLRs, to not be overwhelmed when using this new Micro Four Thirds camera system.

Panasonic dubs the new DMC G10 camera as “The World’s Lightest Interchangeable Lens with a Viewfinder”

Panasonic announced the DMC G10 dubbed by the company as the ‘World’s Lightest Interchangeable Lens with a Viewfinder”.  Does the Panasonic DMC G10 camera live up to Panasonic’s bold title?

The Panasonic G10 touts 12.1megapixels, a Live MOS sensor, Venus Engine HG II technology, and a 3 inch LCD (that has no tilt, swivel or touch option). In addition, Panasonic G10 is able to record High Definition movies in Motion JPEG format. The G10 camera records images and videos on high-capacity SDXC format cards. When you buy the Panasonic G10 you get both the body and the 14-42 mm basic kit lens.

The features of the G10 pretty much define the new Panasonic camera as a stable camera, though not as magnificent as it sounds. However G10, a new Micro Four Thirds camera will still have to be reviewed.  Panasonic has yet to announce the exact release date and camera pricing.

When you buy the Panasonic G10 you get both the body and the 14-42 mm basic kit lens.

Panasonic’s G10 belongs to the company’s Lumix G Micro System which has been dubbed by the market as ‘The New Generation System Camera’.  Panasonic’s Micro System digital cameras are usually called Micro Four Thirds System, it’s similar to the mainstream digital SLR cameras however the ‘Four Thirds’ are smaller in size because of its mirror less structure.

The LumixG lenses, the LUMIX DMC-G10 and LUMIX G Micro System can use any interchangeable lens that complies with the Four Thirds standard via an optional mount adaptor DMW-MA1 and with the prestigious Leica M/R Lenses via DMW-MA2M or MA3R. This gives the user access to the unlimited number of lens properties.

With the LUMIX G Micro System and the growing assortment of lenses becoming available, the expressive possibilities are unlimited. The LUMIX DMC-G10 system camera is said to offer a wide variety of options to choose from to match every shooting situation and shooting style. Some functions on the DMC-G10 are not available depending on the lens that is mounted.

Panasonic announces a new member to its Micro Four Thirds lens family. The new Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42mm / F3.5-5.6 ASPH./ MEGA O.I.S, a standard zoom interchangeable lens for the Lumix G Micro system. The Panasonic lens is light weight but marks high on performance.

The G Vario 14-42mm / F3.5-5.6 ASPH. / MEGA O.I.S. is compact in size, light weight and offers a handy zoom capacity of 14-42 mm ( 35 mm camera equivalent: 28-84mm). With this lens a shooter can switch comfortably from dynamic landscape to portrait.

The Panasonic lens boasts of good contrast with an entire zoom range. The Panasonic Micro Four Thirds product has a spherical lens which makes better optical performance by lessening the distortion even at 28 mm wide end.

The G Vario 14-42mm / F3.5-5.6 ASPH. / MEGA O.I.S. adopts an inner focus system driven by a stepping motor, a design that makes for outstanding smoothness and supports high speed AF system of Lumix G cameras.

Panasonic said that the new LUMIX G VARIO 14-42mm / F3.5-5.6 ASPH. / MEGA O.I.S. lens incorporates Panasonic’s MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer), which makes it easy to shoot super clear shots even in low-lit situations by suppressing the blur caused by a hand shake. When mounted on the cameras of Lumix G Micro System, users can use and take advantage of the contrast AF system and the convenient functions applied from it.

Users can avail of the new Panasonic lens on June 2010 – with either the new Micro Four Thirds camera DMC-G2, DMC-G10 or as a standalone lens.

What’s the best way to keep or store photos of your beloved memories? A portable photo storage called The HyperDrive album keeps up to 640GB worth of photos (which is roughly 300,000 photographs, wow).

Remember those ubiquitous adhesive photo album with plastic sheets, the one with the copy that says ‘Memories to Remember…’?  Photos stored on those albums are probably a little damage from the acidity of the adhesive. One way to store them is to use HyperDrive Album as a main storage. Just scan your photos, put them in a digital file and store them here. In that way pictures of you buck naked as a baby, will always be a hidden file. One warning though the HyperDrive Album photo storage is a bit pricey for personal use.

The HyperDrive Album photo storage also helps professional and casual photographers store their photos from their cameras to the device at a transfer of 2GB per minute full data verification. The HyperDrive Album photo storage also reads RAW format image taken from any digital camera or SLRs.

This photo storage device is actually designed for digital photographers and hobbyist photographers who are active and shoot a lot of photos (you know who you are). Instead of carrying tons of memory cards or a heavy laptop (which can be a pain on location shots), the photographers can use the HyperDrive as an easy way to store photos.

Photos can be viewed the 4.8 inch widescreen which displays 800×480 pixels and 16 million colors. The company that created the HyperDrive album is Sahno Corportation and it claims it’s the most advanced photo storage on the market. Sanho also said HyperDrive Album is the only photo storage device in the world that can display true RAW images from virtually any digital camera, even medium format digital backs.

The 640 GB HyperDrive Album photo storage is available for a US$599 while the lower GB starts at US$ 399.00.

The House of Lords will be deciding if it will pass a government bill that could adversely affect photography copyright.

The Digital Economy Bill, which was announced at the Queen’s Speech before the United Kingdom parliament last year, will give members of the public the right to use images for free and without permission.

Professional photographers fear that the Digital Economy Bill allows for copyright images to be used, legally, without consent from the author. The bill, which is expected to become law before the General Election, would make changes to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

The controversy is centered on ‘orphan works’ photos whose owners cannot be identified or traced. Under the Digital Economy bill photographs that are not registered or with copy right can be legally used by filmmakers, biographers and basically, everybody else. If you include the internet technology and how much freely photos are published and distributed without official copyright the impact of passing the bill is serious.

Staunch critics of the Digital Economy Bill fear that the bill will allow people to blog or publish digital photos without the permission of the copyright holder.

The House of Lords is expected to debate the vital sections of the bill as far as professional photographers are concerned. It will then pass to the House of Commons.

CLEARING THE CONTROVERSY

According to the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) the bill claims provisions for the creation of ‘regulated schemes for licensed use of orphan works’.  This means orphan photos are declared ‘orphans’ only when a ‘diligent search’ for the copyright holder has been carried out.

Professional photographers should not be concerned that photographs with data would easily be called ‘orphaned photos’, according to the IPO.

Authorisations to run orphan works will also be allowed on a case to case basis. If a particular area such as photograph is problematic – for example, because there are no practical search tools that may be used, or because licensing of orphan works would unfairly damage the market for conventional licenses – the government will have the flexibility to not authorise any scheme in that area. These issues will still be subject to public consultation later in the year.

The IPO adds that the framework in the bill will be fleshed out in secondary legislation, expected to detail specific areas such as photography, following public consultation planned for the second half of 2010.

Panasonic introduces the Lumix DMC-FP8, an ultra compact point-and-shoot camera that is said to have the fastest auto focus among its camera class. The Lumix DMC-FP8 starts up in less than a second and shoots nearly 2 frames per second. Panasonic designed the Lumix DMC-FP8 camera for users who complain about the lag time of point-and-shoot cameras.

The body the Pansonic Lumix FP8 is a card style body design with folding optics. The ultra compact point-and-shoot-camera has a 12.1 mega pixel sensor, 4.6x optical zoom and has a 2.7 LCD.

Panasonic’s Intelligent ISO helps limit the sensitivity to a maximum of ISO 400, 800, or 1,600 for low-light conditions.  Tests for the Lumix FP8 at 1600 ISO is poor, so the best ISO to use is ISO Max 800 for low-light situations.

The Lumix DMC-FP8 uses a 28-128mm equivalent lens. It also employs Panasonic cameras’ Power OIS image stabilizer for decent photo results. As the normal feature in digital cameras today, it offers High Definition video recording.

The battery life of the Lumix FP8 is said to be exceptional.

There have been many point-and-shoot cameras released in the market this year and most of them have the same features more or less. The Lumix FP8 seemingly looks the same as the cameras in its class however it runs faster than most.

The ultra compact camera is truly small and easy to store in handbags or pockets. The folding optics eliminates accidental lens damages. The buttons are simple and easy to figure out.

The Panasonic Lumix FP8 is a true just point-and-shoot camera with no aperture or shutter speed control. However the Normal Picture mode offers automatic control over settings for focus, light metering, color effects, white balance, ISO, and exposure.

Available in red, silver and black for £ 132.401/ US$199.89, this camera is a good buy camera for its price range.