Digital Technology News, Camera, Camcorder and Cool Gadget Reviews

Nikon has revamped its D5000 DSLR to reveal the D5100, boasting an improved vari-angle screen smaller dimensions and Full HD movie mode.

The D5100 repleaces the D5000 and will deliver image quality on a par with the D7OO0, but in a smaller, less expensive body, claims Nikon.
Measuring around 10% smaller than D5000, it will sit the range between the D3100 and D7000 and cost £669.99.

The D5100 measures 128X97X79MM and weights around 560G (without battery or memory card).

The new monitor offers a 170′ angle of view and is 17% thinner than the D5000′s screen, according to Nikon. It carries a resolution of 921,000 dots, as opposed to 230,000 on the D5000. Read the rest of this entry »

This tiny clip-on microphone certainly does the job if you want to be discreet with your recording.

Ideal for interviews, it clips on to your lapel and picks up sound from a close range. It’s an omnidirectional microphone, however, which means it will pull in sound from all directions.

When recording inside this wasn’t a problem, but outside a lot of background noise was recorded, which the small windshield couldn’t compete with! The six-metre cable and 6.5mm adapter are useful for both on-camera and mixing desk recording.

A simple setup process, a strong feature set, and excellent throughput make for a killer combination for the Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router (WNDR3700). It will appeal to tech-savvy home users and business IT types alike.

The N600 is a dual-band router with a maximum theoretical throughput of 300 Mbps. In real-world usage, if a wireless router can achieve half its theoretical throughput, that’s superb performance. The N600 comes closer than any router we have tested to that level of throughput in bench¬mark results, hitting a maximum throughput of 121 Mbps. That excellent signal also remained fairly steady whether testing right next to or 30 feet away from the router. Read the rest of this entry »

The 12-megapixel Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2 might just be the best Micro Four Thirds camera you can buy. This compact  interchangeable-lens camera has a body size that’s comparable to a small point-and-shoot, but its images and speed rival that of a D-SLR.

The GF2 also spices things up by offering a touchscreen and the ability to shoot real 3D photos via the optional Panasonic Lumix H-FTO12 12.5mm f/12.3D G Lens. Still, it’s tough to recommend the GF2 over our Editors’ Choice pick, the Sony NEX-3, which offers similiar size, a lower price and larger image sensor.

Like all Micro Four Thirds cameras, the GF2 offers D֊SLR-like speed and image quality, but in a compact body. This is achieved by using a larger image sensor. The Panasonic GF2 can power on and shoot in an impressive 1.27 seconds, and can continuously shoot at 3.2 frames per second. And there’s almost no shutter lag. Read the rest of this entry »

The blogosphere is abuzz at the possibility of Microsoft developing a next-generation Microsoft Xbox 360, after the company posted a job listing for an experienced hardware engineer to join its Xbox team. In the listing for a “graphics hardware architect,” Microsoft said it was looking for someone to oversee “next-generation console architectures from conception through implementation.”

“The responsibilities include architecture analysis, key technology selection, architecture specification, communication and collaboration with extended Microsoft teams and partner companies,” the listing reads. “The ideal candidate should have a broad background in 3D graphics rendering architectures and algorithms (ideally with gaming applications in mind), 3D software pipelines, and physics. The candidate should also have a solid understanding of graphics hardware implementation, including design methodologies and production yield and cost analysis.” Read the rest of this entry »

Previous EOS models had to be set manually, primarily based on the colour saturation you wanted. Now there is an Auto Picture Style option – which picks the saturation and contrast to suit the picture the camera sees. It will be interesting to see how successfully this works.

The usual Green Zone fully-automatic exposure mode has been replaced with an A+ Scene Intelligent Mode option. This is said to intelligently use autofocus, AWB, AE, Auto Lighting Optimizer and Auto Picture Style to create an ultra-smart do-it-all exposure mode. Most useful, perhaps, is the new Feature Guide with on-screen captions that tell you the point and purpose of each SLR option. Read the rest of this entry »

The EOS 1000D is the camera that refused to die. By tradition, as the low-cost, beginner-friendly D-SLR in the EOS dynasty, it should only have lasted a year in the Canon range before it made way for the next new pretender. But its now time to say goodbye. After nigh-on three years, its successor has finally been announced…

Known as the Rebel T3 in North America, the HOOD is named as if it were simply just a minor update of Canon’s best-selling budget D-SLR body. But don’t be fooled by the badge, and the similar looks – inside this camera has been built completely from scratch.

At the heart is a 12-megapixel CMOS sensor – providing a 20% improvement in resolution over its predecessor – while the maximum sensitivity of the sensor takes a giant two-stop leap to ISO 6400. Read the rest of this entry »

With the same excellent Sennheiser quality that can be found on their professional music microphones, the MKE400 is a rugged and compact condenser shotgun mic that’s perfect for use with your Canon D-SLR.

Switching to the Lobar polar pattern means that sound is picked up clearly from the front, with little to no spill-over from the sides and back, although this causes a very isolated recording that may need a little background noise mixed in to sound natural. Supplied with a windshield, battery, cable and shock mounting, it’s ready to go right out of the box.

This super-cardioid condenser mic from Rode offers a compact design with excellent polar sensitivity to the front and sides. This makes voices clear but natural. Ambient sound is nicely controlled with the High Pass Filter switch, and the clever shock mounting helps to minimize sound from movement and handling the camera.

Your EOS has no option to control the sound level but this mic does; we turned it downto -10dB when recording loud music, but when recording quiet talking, we turned it up to +20dB for superb signal-to-noise handing.