Digital Technology News, Camera, Camcorder and Cool Gadget Reviews

With a choice of inkjet or dye-sub models, these printers produce 6x4in enprints. They easily connect directly to cameras or obile
phones, either by USB, Bluetooth, infrared or even WiFi to allow immediate prints. Most of them also accept media cards and may have LCD screens.

Modern inkjets offer high quality and speedy printing, matching that of conventional photographic prints. Recent ink and paper advances have also improved the life-span of inkjet prints, which can now outlast colour silver halide prints. Look for models with memory card slots. Read the rest of this entry »

FIXED FOCAL LENGTH

Fixed lenses offer some advantages over zooms. They’re generally smaller and lighter, with wider maximum apertures and superior image quality. An ultra-fast (eg f/1.8) 50mm lens is perfect for low light, 85-105mm is ideal for portraits while a fast 300mm (or longer) tele is a popular addition to any wildlife or sports shooter’s kit. Read the rest of this entry »

A conventional (flat) lens-cap and reversible petal-type lens hood hint at the fact that this lens is not quite as extreme as its focal length might suggest. Removing the lens-cap confirms this, as the front element displays no significant curvature.

The reason for this difference is due to Pentax’s lens having been designed exclusively for the APS-C format. This can be interpreted either as good news, because the lens is substantially less expensive, or as a drawback on account of its reduced angle-of-view. It is also fitted with a 77mm accessory thread that allows low-profile filters to be fitted to the front of the lens.

Pentax has never been big on extreme wide-angle lenses and immediately before the switch to digital the shortest focal length that the company offered for full-frame film use was 20mm. As it happens, that lens gave roughly the same angle-of-view as is now provided by the current 14mm lens for APS-C format cameras. Read the rest of this entry »

The Kodak ESP Offi ce 6150 is a small business printer with multiple connectivity possibilities, from wireless networking to operating as a fax machine. There’s also a built-in scanner for archiving prints or copying documents as well as the opportunity for double-sided printing.

The printer relies on one four-colour ink cartridge and one pigment black cartridge, and can print an A4 photograph in around two minutes, which is quite slow compared to the average dedicated photo printer.  Scans can be acquired at 1200dpi with the Kodak software simultaneously creating separate files from the results. This bulk processing alludes to the printer’s main intended usage of being a small office hub rather than connected to a single computer. Read the rest of this entry »