Tag Archives: news

Reviews

Hasselblad H2D-39: A 39-megapixel DSLR!

The Hasselblad H2D-39 DSLR Camera

Hold the presses, because I’ve just stumbled onto an amazing DSLR. I used to think 22-megapixels was really something, but this puppy cooks up 39-megapixels! It records in RAW format, and the photos are so big that it comes with an external 80GB hard drive. You can even connect it directly to your Mac or PC and transfer the images as you take them.

Of course, if you yearn for mobility, it also writes to CF cards. I can’t imagine how big they’d need to be or how many you’d need for a typical commercial photo shoot, but hey, it’s your call, right?

It comes with a rechargeable Li-ion battery that will let you take up to 250 photos, or “captures”, as they call them in 4 hours. Needless to say, you won’t be able to put it in your pocket: the camera plus battery and CF card comes in at 2,175 grams, a little over 2 kilos, or 4 pounds.

So how much will all this megapixely goodness cost you? $29,995 seems to be the going price, although I’ve seen it listed on Froogle for as high as $32,973. I can’t say that I’ve got a burning need to get one, but I suppose if my livelihood depended on delivering really high quality pics, it’d be on my shopping list. Read up on it right here.

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Thoughts

Sporadic posts for the next couple of weeks

I’ve had a family emergency and my time will be taken up with it for the next two weeks. I’ll set the site to publish photos during this time, and I may or may not get a chance to write. I’ll see.

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Reviews

Camera preview: Sony Alpha DSLR-A100 DSLR

I’ve been reading reviews about the Sony Alpha DSLR-A100, and I’m impressed. It looks like the successor to Minolta’s D-SLR line is a worthy one, and the features it packs for its price point are powerful. This camera has a 10.2-megapixel image sensor, improved 40-segment metering, a 2.5-inch Clear Photo LCD Plus, and Anti Dust technology. It will have 19 high-quality Sony lenses and a wide range of accessories, not to mention that it will be compatible with Minolta’s line of lenses. The lithium-ion battery will let you get up to 750 shots per charge.

I would love to get my hands on it for an up-close review, but until I do, I’ll leave you with links to some good reviews:

Some detailed specs are also in order:

  • Lightweight and durable magnesium alloy body: frame is 545g and frame+lens is 630g
  • Sony a Alpha/Minolta-A bayonet lens mount
  • 10.2-megapixel Sony CCD sensor with 10M/5M/2.5M image sizes
  • Recording choice of JPEG, RAW, or RAW plus Fine JPEG
  • Super SteadyShot anti-shake system with viewfinder indicators
  • Anti-dust system automatically shakes dust off the imager
  • Large 2.5-inch TFT color Clear Photo LCD Plus
  • Pentaprism viewfinder with 95% coverage and Eye Start AF
  • 9-point AF with Wide, Spot and Focus Area Selection
  • Image adjustments: Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness (5 levels)
  • Shooting modes: Full-auto, Programmed AE with program shift, Aperture priority, Shutter priority, Manual and Scenes
  • Dynamic Range Optimizer using the Bionz image processor
  • TTL metering: 40-segment honeycomb-pattern, Center-weighted or Spot
  • White Balance: Auto, six presets and Manual color temperature
  • Unlimited Continuous 3fps shooting Large/Fine JPEG images, up to 6 RAW
  • Shutter speeds: 30 to 1/4,000 seconds, 1/160 sec. flash sync
  • ISO Range: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 (with lo80 and hi200)
  • Built-in TTL popup flash with red-eye reduction.
  • Hot shoe for Sony/Minolta Program Flash units
  • CompactFlash I/II card slot, Microdrive and FAT32 compatible
  • Video Out with selectable NTSC or PAL timing
  • High capacity lithium-ion battery pack and charger included
  • Exif Print, PRINT Image Matching II, PictBridge compatible
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Reviews

A few up and coming gadgets

Time has a great slideshow of up and coming gadgets. A few that I really like are a new cellphone from Samsung that’s thinner and lighter than the Razr, the Sanyo Xacti HD camcorder, the swivable laptop display from Intel, and the “sideshow” display that allows you to check email and play music without opening the laptop, compatible with Vista. Click on the thumbnails below to view the photos, courtesy of their manufacturers.

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Thoughts

New Orleans is sinking, fast

New studies that used satellite radar data from the three years before Katrina struck show that New Orleans is sinking by more than 1 inch per year. Some areas, particularly those developed on reclaimed marshlands, are sinking 4 to 5 times faster than the rest of the city.

This phenomenon is called subsidence and is caused mainly by overdevelopment, drainage and natural seismic shifts. As the ground sinks, protection by levees in those areas also falls.

For example, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, built more than three decades ago, has sunk by more than three feet since it was built. That’s why water simply came right over the levees there. They were three feet below their initial height!

Now, when planning for the rebuilding of New Orleans is taking place, the government, and in particular the Army Corps of Engineers, need to take this new data into consideration, and to be safe, no one should rebuild in those areas that are sinking faster.

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