Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX20V Review

First there was the HX5V, then HX9V … now the HX20V. So we’ve gone from a 10x zoom camera to a 15x, and finally a 20x zoom compact digicam.

I happily use the earlier HX5V as an everyday camera, for holidays and occasionally for shots of review cameras. A good all-rounder but, if I had known of the progression Sony planned — 10x to 15x to 20x — maybe I would have waited for the 20 timer. But probably not, because I would have missed the pleasure over the last two years of owning the HX5V as a capable picture maker.

We’ve come up a bit in body size since the HX5V: it’s about one third overall larger, but placed side-by-side you would barely notice the difference. Weight: about 50 grams heavier. Not much diff.

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX20V Features

The CMOS sensor has a whopping 18.2 million effective pixels on board, which leads to a maximum image size of 4896×3672 pixels. A print? How about 41x31cm in size?

Movies? Captured in AVCHD or MPEG4, the former file format will deliver Full HD 1920×1080 pixel video.

It’s worth noting that the newly-developed Exmor R CMOS image sensor and BIONZ image processor are claimed to produce enhanced image detail and lower image noise even in low light conditions. The claim is that image noise has been reduced to 1/61 to that of the earlier sensors. For me, this is important as the earlier HX5V does not do well in low light!

The body itself is made from a recycled plastic developed by Sony, a durable plastic containing 99% recycled materials and claimed to offer greater heat resistance.

The rear 7.6cm LCD is quite bright and useable in most daylight conditions but is absolutely hopeless in full sunlight.

The new HX20V has GPS installed, useful for trekkers to log their position when shooting and to record your progress.

BTW an interesting note and one that should be borne in mind if you’re an inveterate online buyer from overseas resellers: if you live in a country that uses 50 fps (PAL) or 60 fps (NTSC) in TV transmission the camera has an imprint in the base indicating 50i or 60i. It should help you buy the correct version for your country.

The mode dial on the top of the camera has ten positions; these include intelligent or ‘superior’ auto, Program AE or manual exposure; there’s also memory recall, which remembers a custom setting.

This dial also has a position to select sweep panorama, an enormously useful Sony feature that can capture huge panoramas in any of four directions: upwards, downwards, leftwards, rightwards.

Same dial: there’s 3D capture, with the image replayable on a 3D compatible TV; a useful dial position that captures the subject with the background ‘defocused’; 15 scene modes such as backlight correction, night portrait and others occupy another position on the mode dial; movie mode is also selected here.

There’s also an in-camera guide that has much detailed information about the camera’s operation. To be honest, I found it weird that many matters I needed to delve into were in this screen guide but not in the meagre 33 page PDF manual. Weird!

Near the mode dial is a ‘custom’ button that gives direct access to such matters as exposure correction by two f stops up or down in third stop increments; plus white balance etc.

The 20x zoom is of course to die for and I have to admit to some surprise when I found that the optical image stabiliser worked extremely well when the lens was pushed out to this extreme position.

Movies

For the price, this does the work of a remarkable video camera! It tracked very smoothly, even with the zoom racked from wide to tele. In wide, the auto focus worked fairly quickly; at full tele the AF was a little slower.

You cannot shoot stills while recording video.

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX20V ISO Tests

Only when the ISO reached 3200 was noise evident. By ISO 6400 noise was up but definition was still very good. By ISO 12,800 the show was falling over but still, for certain shots, it was useable. A remarkable performance!

Startup Time

Two seconds from power on to first shot; subsequent shots about a second apart.

Distortion

A very good performer, there was no sign of distortion at either end of the zoom. What is also worth mentioning is the auto macro action of the camera: move into the subject as close as 10mm and the camera moves automatically into macro mode, with no distortion. Magic!

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX20V Verdict

Quality: one of the best performers in the compact market.

Why you would buy it: great for Full HD movie shooting; great for macro shooting; 10 fps continuous shooting; excellent high ISO performance.

Why you wouldn’t: no RAW capture; small sensor.
At the end of the day, this is a top performer.

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX20V Specifications

Image Sensor: 18.2 million effective pixels.
Sensor Type: BSI-CMOS.
Metering: Multi-zone, centre-weighted, spot.
Sensor Size: 11mm.
Lens: Sony G f3.2-5.8/4.45-89mm (25-500mm as 35 SLR equivalent).
Shutter Speed: 30 to 1/1600 second.
Continuous: 10 fps.
Memory: MemoryStick Duo/Pro Duo/Pro-HG, SD, SDHC, SDXC plus 105MB internal memory.
Image Sizes (pixels): 4896×3672 to 640×480. Movies: AVCHD 1920×1080, 1440×1080. MPEG4 1440×1080, 1280×720, 640×480.
File Formats: JPEG, 3D MPO, AVCHD, MPEG4.
ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 100 to 12,800.
LCD Screen: 7.6cm (921,600 pixels).
Interface: USB 2.0, AV, mini HDMI, EyeFi and DC input.
Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery.
Dimensions: 107x62x35 WHDmm.
Weight: Approx. 254 g (inc battery and card).
Price: AUD599.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX20V Review

Digital Photography School

7 Secrets Every Aspiring Street Photographer Should Know

A Guest Post by James Maher

Street photography ain’t easy. It’s a fast moving world out there and it takes a lot of practice to be able to capture it well.

However, it’s not just about practice. Every seasoned street photographer has a bag of tricks to make their lives easier when out on the streets. Below are few of my “secrets,” which I do not think are written about enough. They are not just technical tricks, but tips to help you seek out great content for your photos, so that they are interesting and powerful.

1.  Stop Moving

Do you treat your street photography as if you are taking a beautiful stroll through the city? There is nothing wrong with this of course, but it is very hard to walk, pay full attention and still capture quality street photos at the same time. You will often find yourself out of position when a moment happens and it is much easier to be noticed when you try to get yourself into position. Finally, people are usually moving in the opposite direction of you and so it can be tough to stop your motion enough to achieve a sharp shot while framing correctly at the same time. All of this takes a lot of coordination to pull off while moving.

The key is to slow down. Make a point to stop every few blocks and wait for a few minutes. See what happens. You want the subjects to come to you and not the other way around. Explore your surroundings in a detailed way and wait for things to unfold around you. You will be surprised at the amount of moments that will occur while you are just standing around.

2.  Pay Attention to the Eyes

If you want to improve your street photography (or portraiture) by a thousand percent then paying attention to a person’s eyes is the way to do it. People can be so skilled at hiding their emotions on their faces but their eyes will never lie. I see too many street photos with blank stares these days. Search for that hint of emotion in a person’s eyes and it will have a transformative effect on your photography.

In addition, direct eye contact can be extremely important. It creates a powerful connection with the subject. I usually try to avoid being noticed and so I often don’t aim for eye contact but sometimes waiting for a person to look at you is exactly what a photo needs.  The photograph will still be candid as long as you capture the subject in the moment that they first look at you and before they are able to react.

3.  Focus on Details

Street photography is not only about capturing crazy juxtapositions or fitting as many different people or objects into an elaborate frame. In fact, this is something that I see way too much. Often, it’s best to simplify your photos and search for the ‘little things’ – the tiny hints about life that everyone else seems to miss. Look at the details: a person’s hands, an expression, a piece of clothing, or a single object framed very close. Powerful ideas and emotions can be portrayed through the simplest of scenes.

4.  Shoot at ISO 1600

Digital cameras these days are amazingly good at high ISOs. If you are in bright sunlight or shooting still objects then you don’t need to shoot around ISO 1600, but for the rest of the time it is a good idea. I pretty much live in ISO 1600, 800 and 3200. Shooting with a high ISO will help you achieve sharper images by letting you to use a faster shutter speed and a smaller aperture, allowing for more of the scene to be sharp. As long as you are using a decent digital camera, you will quickly notice that shooting with a high ISO will create a much higher quality image, despite the extra grain.

Also, grain is beautiful! Just make sure to not brighten the exposure too much in post-production with a high ISO photo. That will ruin the photo. If you are shooting with a high ISO, exposing correctly is extremely important.

5.  Find shots without people

Street photography is often wrongly associated with being entirely about photographing people on the streets. Street photography is about people, or more specifically about human nature, but people don’t need to be present in the scene. There are an infinite amount of opportunities out there for epic street photos without people. You just have to look for them.

But let’s not confuse a street photograph without people with an urban landscape. An urban landscape is a straight shot of an urban environment, such as a simple shot of the Empire State Building. Street photos on the other hand say something about human nature. They have a message to them. Take the example of Layers of the City. This photograph represents the changing nature of Manhattan and particularly the neighborhood of the East Village, which is currently the fastest gentrifying neighborhood in the city. It portrays the progression from the seedy underbelly of the neighborhood to a sleek and sterile future. The shot says something about human nature and the nature of cities. It is not just a straight shot of a construction site.

6.   Shoot at Night with Artificial Light

Night is one of the most fun and rewarding times to shoot on the street. In general, I find street photos at night to be more moody and powerful than their counterparts taken during the day. And you don’t need to use a flash (although I do enjoy the flash look). I prefer to shoot without a flash because I love the colored and authentic look of artificial light sources and I want to take advantage of the beautiful qualities of these lights.

The trick to shooting street photography at night without a flash is to find bright areas and wait there (and shoot at ISO 1600 or 3200). Use glowing storefront signs and hang out near streetlamps. It will be worth it.

7.   Like A Fine Wine

Street photography is like wine; it ages extremely well. This idea is something that you need to pay attention to when out shooting. Think about what is going to change. Focus on current trends or things that won’t be around in 2, 3, 10 or 20 years. For example, take a look at this 2012 shot of five people reading paper on the subway. This is not my favorite image by any means but it is going to age well extremely quickly. In 3 years, capturing an image like this may be impossible when almost everyone is using e-readers or their phones. This idea makes this image much more fascinating to me.

And this is only a small sample. The exciting thing about street photography is that for each of these seven “secrets,” there are dozens more. What other tips and tricks do you use to improve your street photography

James Maher is a freelancer and street photographer based in New York City. You can say hello on Facebook or view his work on his website.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

7 Secrets Every Aspiring Street Photographer Should Know

Digital Photography School

Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. A girl taking a picture of the ceremony of laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (LOC)

Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. A girl taking a picture of the ceremony of laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (LOC)

Image by The Library of Congress
Bubley, Esther,, photographer.

Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. A girl taking a picture of the ceremony of laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

1943 May.

1 negative : nitrate ; 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches or smaller.

Notes:
Annotation on original negative jacket.
Title and other information from caption card.
Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.

Subjects:
United States–Virginia–Arlington County.

Format: Nitrate negatives.

Rights Info: No known restrictions. For information, see U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black & White Photographs www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/071_fsab.html

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Part Of: Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsaowi

Persistent URL: hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.31770

Call Number: LC-USW3- 029809-E

Buy our New Natural Lighting eBook and Go in the Draw to Win $1000 worth of Lenses

Two weeks back we launched a brand new dPS eBook – Natural Light: Mastering a Photographer’s Most Powerful Tool.

We’ve seen an amazing response to the launch with some wonderful feedback coming in and people reporting both inspiration to shoot more natural light shots but also feeling that they now are equipped with the knowledge to go and do it.

Win up to $ 1000 USD in Lenses

We launched Natural Light with a 25% discount for early bird buyers but before we end that discount we thought we’d add one more sweetener for those who pick up the eBook in the coming 2 weeks.

Everyone who buys a copy of Natural Light before Tuesday 22nd May (including those who already have bought one) will go into the draw to win a lens prize pack with your choice of lenses to the value of $ 1000 USD from B&H Photo and Video.

The Prize

The winner can choose a combination of lenses to suit their needs. So Canon owners can choose Canon mount lenses. Nikon owners can choose Nikon mount lenses. Micro 4/3 camera owners can choose lenses to suit their cameras.

The winner can choose to spend their $ 1000 USD on one single lens or might choose to buy 2-3 lenses (as long as they total up to $ 1000).

For example: Canon owner might choose a 50mm f1.8 ($ 119), a 17-40mm f/4L ($ 779) and a couple of filters to bring it up to $ 1000 OR they might simply get a 24-105mm f/4 which is worth almost the full $ 1000.

FAQ

Based upon previous competitions I know we’ll get a number of questions on this so here’s some FAQs:

• what if I already purchased Natural Light? – you’re in the draw and don’t need to do anything else
• is this open to all international readers – yes, everyone. We’ll ship the lenses to you anywhere at our cost. Our preference is to use B&H Photo and Video but if you live outside of their delivery area we’ll work with a local supplier to you to get you your lenses.
• can I enter more than once? – no, there is one entry per person. Multiple purchases of the eBook only get you one entry
• are there any conditions of entry? – yes, just one. The only condition of entry is that you allow us to publish your name on the blog when you’re drawn as a winner (we’ll keep any other details private). This way everyone will know who has won (we’ve previously had winners ask not to be named which has been difficult to be transparent about winner announcements).

Here’s the deal in a Nutshell

Buy Natural Light before Tuesday 22 May and you get:

• 25% off the eBook – worth $ 19.99 you get it for $ 14.99
• an entry into the $ 1000 lens giveaway
• Plus (and most importantly) you’ll come away from reading the eBook with some inspiration and knowledge to go away and take magical Natural Light images – this eBook has the potential to transform your photography!

To enter simply buy Natural Light before midnight on Tuesday 22nd May (Eastern US time). We’ll draw the winner that evening and notify them of their win and then publish their name here on the dPS blog. If the winner doesn’t respond within 7 days we’ll draw another winner and publish their name on the blog.

As this post goes up you have 2 weeks to take advantage of this offer – so don’t hesitate and pick up your copy of Photo Nuts and POST here today!

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Buy our New Natural Lighting eBook and Go in the Draw to Win $ 1000 worth of Lenses

Digital Photography School

Check the Background of Your Shots Before Shooting

Those who follow me on Instagram (follow me at darrenrowse) will have seen this one already but I thought it’d be a fun one to share again – to make a point.

Check the backgrounds of your shots before shooting!

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Check the Background of Your Shots Before Shooting

Digital Photography School

Young couple launch new, exclusive venue Aldenham Park

Morville, Bridgnorth, Shropshire (PRWEB UK) 4 May 2012

James, whose family hail from Albrighton, runs a successful alternative energy company and Hettie was formerly an assistant in Sothebys Special Events department in London.

Aldenham Park is a beautiful Regency English country house, set in over 250 acres of parkland with over 15 acres of formal and informal gardens and the property dates from 1691, although records show a dwelling on the site since the Doomsday Book.

Hettie commented: Some early history reveals that King Charles 1st hid here during the English Civil War in the 1600s and he later presented a very large Van Dyck painting of himself to the house in gratitude which now stands proudly in the saloon. The intricately panelled and carved bedroom that King Charles 1st stayed in still remains intact to this day.

During the Second World War, evacuee children from the cities were housed here and the attics were used as school dormitories. There are still several original coat hooks and cupboards bearing the names of the children, so the house has a very colourful history.

We only expect to host around half a dozen wedding events a year and we can call on a wide circle of professional friends and contacts who can provide relevant services. We are in the process of obtaining our civil ceremony licence allowing us to offer a wedding venue that is intimate, exclusive and we believe, rather special.

To help launch the venue, a brochure photo shoot by award-winning Oswestry photographer Phil Barrett was held at Aldenham Park, featuring dresses designed by Hannah Wilkins-Webb of Much Wenlock and hand-made jewellery by Milly Swire.

Bespoke Jewellery – Milly Swire – http://www.millyswire.com

Wedding Dresses – Hannah Wilkins-Webb http://www.hannahwilkinswebb.com

Photography PB Artworks http://www.pbartworks.co.uk

Flowers Ebenezers Floral & Bridal Design – http://www.ebenezersfloraldesign.co.uk

5 Tips for Creating a Workflow for Speed Portrait Shoots

When I was in Colombia last month, my photography team took on the challenge of photographing portraits for an entire orphanage full of adorable and energetic children. We had about 20 minutes one morning to photograph all 60 or so kids. There would be no other opportunity to do so again, so we had to be spot on the first time.

Envision: On location. 5 photographers. 60 kids.

We had about 15 minutes to organize and prepare. Ultimately we wanted all the photos to have a cohesive but creative series so the orphanage could use them later. Here is the workflow we developed for a smooth and organized portrait shoot.

1. Find the Perfect Location

The first backdrop we chose was the side of a distressed wood building. The warmer tones were pretty, but after some discussion, we decided that the building was not true to “Colombia” – the audience may think the photos were from any rural place in the world. To make it more unique to Colombia, we chose a path between two buildings, with Colombian bush in the background.

2. Be Sure About Lighting

Sunlight is known to change within just a few minutes. While we didn’t want every portrait to look cookie cutter, we did want the lighting to be unified across all the portraits. We could have had the children stand in the direct light, but settled on the shade cast from the side of a building. We also added a reflector to even out the skin tones and capture beautiful catch lights.

3. Get Variety from the Posing

To fly through a set of portraits without making them all the same, have a list of poses you can draw from. With 12 or so number of poses, you can change up little details to make each pose unique – such as how a hand is placed or the angle of the head.

4. Use Identical Settings

Even though multiple photographers were shooting, we wanted all the portraits to have a unity about them so there was not a distinction between photographers. We placed all the cameras on the same settings to achieve these results.

5. Be Fun and Exciting

The most challenging part of a speed shoot is having the ability to make every child smile in a matter of seconds. The person who is the most engaging and entertaining ought to be the one directing the child’s attention. Genuine smiles are always the best for portraits, but it’s not always easy to capture.

Our speed shoot was a smashing success. Every element we worked through in the organization ultimately yielded portraits of each child that were beautiful and authentic. I for one, and more than pleased with the results.

Note: Images of Children withheld for privacy

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

5 Tips for Creating a Workflow for Speed Portrait Shoots

Digital Photography School

8 Tips To Take Better Travel Pictures

Ever noticed how some people’s vacation pictures are often an imitation of the postcards they could have easily bought at the airport on their way home? Whether it’s the Eiffel Tower or the Sidney Opera, it’s common to try to capture those iconic images. After all, it’s one reason why we chose to travel to these exotic locales in the first place, right?

Think about your last vacation – what do you remember most fondly? Those famous landmarks? Or the colorful markets, the fresh pastries in the bakery window, the people sitting in the cafes, the street vendors and buskers, the smell of the streets after a morning rain?

The next time you travel, think “outside the postcard” and create your own iconic images, your own stories and memories.  Here are a few tips to help you get started.

1- Include signage in you pictures. The name and price of the fruits and vegetables at farmer’s market written in the local language, creatively painted store signs, a newsstand featuring local papers, even the city street signs will give your images a lively sense of place.

2- Include people in your frames. Try to feature local people rather than tourists. Folks buying their daily paper, selecting flowers at the market, having coffee at the outdoor cafe or chatting as they walk their dogs. And if you have the time for doing some street photography, pick a spot and wait a bit.  Something interesting will surely happen and a story will unfold for you to capture and take home. The human element always adds interest to your images.

3- Create a photo story with a handful of frames. Start by taking a wide shot of an antique market to set the stage, then shoot a few close-ups of items for sale, people exchanging money, children laughing, the old fellow smoking a pipe. These are the travel images that will make your photo album more memorable and more unique.  They can also be an interesting montage if displayed on your walls back home.

4- Avoid those boring family group shots in front of landmarks.  Instead, take action shots of your kids eating the end of fresh baguette in France or your husband playing bocce ball with the locals in Italy. Those are the pictures you’ll cherish for years to come. They will evoke your travel stories and fun memories, making you smile every time you open the photo album.

5- Resist taking those traditional postcard shots. When visiting a famous landmark such as the Eiffel Tower, try shooting a different perspective. Take close ups of the metal beams and the bolts. Photograph repeated patterns. Be creative and tell a story! Shooting lots of architectural details will nicely compliment any traditional picture of those famous landmarks in your photo album.

6- Practice your food photography on location. Get a table by a window at the restaurant, and turn off that awful flash. Shoot the local cuisine. Then enjoy your meal!

7- Pick a theme or two each day. This will help keep you focused – no pun intended – and you won’t feel so overwhelmed by trying to capture it all in one day. Feel free to change your theme du jour if you discover something more interesting. Hey, it’s your trip!  So, if you are shooting architectural details in Rome and the perfect street scene catches your attention, by all means, shoot that, too. My point is that when you discover a new place, it’s impossible to absorb everything in a few days.  Besides, if you do, you may end up with boring photographs or nothing at all.

8- Be a gear minimalist when traveling. Carry just one camera and one lens because that perfect shot will inevitably happen while you are switching lens, and you’ll miss it. You’ll thank me and your back will thank you! Every time you change your lens outdoors, dust gets on the sensor and, if you are like me, you don’t carry the highly flammable sensor cleaning solution when you travel. Remember the power of limitations. Want to travel light and use only the 50mm lens all day? You have feet and they make a great zoom!

To get a real feel for a new travel destination, and capture it through your lens, let your senses guide you. Happy travels and bring back some killer images!

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

8 Tips To Take Better Travel Pictures

Digital Photography School

Made in the United Kingdom the stylish Billingham camera bags from John Lewis

(PRWEB UK) 25 April 2012

Available in four timeless designs, the Billingham camera bags from John Lewis combine high quality and fantastic attention to detail. Designed and made in the West Midlands, a Billingham camera bag is intended to last a lifetime and if you experience any problems it can be sent back for repair.

Miranda Mahler, buyer for accessories at John Lewis says, Offering great design and craftsmanship, a Billingham bag will protect a camera whilst adding style to any outfit.

The family run company was formed in 1973, originally manufacturing fishing bags. However in 1978, Martin Billingham (a keen photographer) discovered that the fishing bags were being used by New York photographers so started to produce camera bags; within a year almost all production had switched to camera bags.

Billingham Hadley Digital DSLR Camera Bag, Khaki/Tan –

Nikon Coolpix P510 Review

In this reviewing business you occasionally get waylaid: in preparing a new camera review I usually begin with the text sources and specs data to feel my way. In this case, I did so, quite carefully, but dug into the wordage of the Nikon Coolpix P5100. Wrong!

The way model numbers run these days, the shorter the better, the more highly specced. To put it politely, the P5100 is a dog, ideal for a tiny kid or even a smart chimp. But no more.

The P510 is a really different beast! And what a joy it was to discover this baby has a 42x optical zoom, along with 16.1 megapixel capture. In 35 SLR terms this means you get a 1000mm lens at full tele.

By way of comparison, for the last year I have owned and used Canon’s previous long zoom record holder, the Powershot SX30 IS. A powerful camera, it has a 35x zoom and gives rewarding photographs provided you respect the zoom stretch.

Early days and I found the P510 to offer the ‘pull’ — and then some! — of the Canon. It did appear to offer considerably more stabilising action than the Canon with the zoom at full tilt. But let’s see.

Nikon Coolpix P510 Features

Shaped like a faux DSLR with a pronounced speed grip at right, the camera is easy to hold and, thanks to the vari-angle finder, easy to view. Unfortunately, the 7.5cm screen swings only outwards and upwards … but not laterally. To my mind, cameras of this shape and size should always be ‘adorned’ with a vari-angle screen but when, tell me when, is a camera maker going to go the full hog and build in a retractable sun screen on at least the sides and top. I’m waiting …

The maximum image size is a generous 4608×3456 pixels or, as a print, 39x29cm.

Movies are in good shape: 1920×1080 at 30 fps.

The external controls are average in number, with the mode dial offering entry to auto operation as well as Program AE, shutter and aperture priority and manual; also at hand is direct selection of the settings for night landscape, daytime landscape, backlit subjects plus a bunch of screen modes (inc 3D, panorama etc) as well as an effects setting which lets you apply filters to soften your image as well as capture such ‘looks’ as sepia, monochrome, low key, high key etc. Additionally, you can dial in your own settings with often used combos of shutter speed and aperture.

There’s little else to occupy your fingers, aside from the usual four way jog dial, dedicated movie record button, replay and buttons to power up the turret finder or the rear LCD screen; I found the former to be quite inadequate in definition and clarity.

Another comment is I discovered is that the minimum aperture is f8.3, a surprisingly ‘big hole’ and one that could make life difficult if you’re seeking maximum depth of field.

One interesting feature is a second zoom control, set into the left side of the lens barrel; using it nicely balances the camera in two hands. Good one!

Oh and there’s an Fn button which gives you quick access to single or burst shooting, plus options such as and intervalometer, and Best Shot Selector, an old Nikon standby which captures up to 10m images, then saves a single image that is the sharpest in the run.

GPS is on board with the data recorded with the images and, when the supplied software ViewNX 2 is installed on your computer, an onscreen map shows the shooting locations. There is also a log function that records movement over a specified interval, as a log data, even when the camera is not in use or is turned off, so you can track your travels.

Movies

In shooting movies with the P510 you have to focus first, then start shooting. Mid shoot, at full wide, the camera appears to find focus but you can’t apply this manually. Movie into tele and you’re lost. Best to set your tele position, focus, then shoot.

Having said this, the camera’s stabiliser works well throughout the movie capture.
You can’t shoot stills mid-movie but you can pull still frames later out of the video stream. Maximum size 1920×1080 pixels.

Long Lens

Using the P510 to its full capabilities takes a fair amount of patience: if you want to travel to ‘long tele’ land get ready to steady the camera. Propping it on the nearest fence or gate is a start but then you face the problems of getting the camera level. It’s a pity there wasn’t a viewfinder level indicator. Would’ve been a hell of a help. The tripod route is the only way.

Even though the pair of wide/tele test shots were taken on a cool autumn day the amount of atmospheric haze (as you can see from the pics) was extraordinary. The Harbour Bridge as seen in the tele shot was over a kilometre away.

Startup Time

About a second after startup I could shoot my first shot, then follow-ups could be reeled in at about a second a pop.

Distortion

My haven’t lenses on these digicams come a long way! The zoom exhibited exactly zero in the way of distortion, either at the full wide or full tele settings. Top stuff!

Nikon Coolpix P510 ISO Settings

I figure you could use ISO right up to 3200, with the latter suiting certain subjects. By ISO 6400 the game is over!

Nikon Coolpix P510 Verdict

Quality: about par with most other digicams in this sector.

Why you would buy it: you want a long zoom in a small package.

Why you wouldn’t: no reason.

On sale in three colours: black, red and silver. To me, the red does look a bit odd on such a well-configured camera.

Nikon Coolpix P510 Specifications

Image Sensor: 11mm CMOS; 16.1 million effective pixels.
Lens: f3.0-5.9/4.3-180mm (24-1000mm as 35 SLR equivalent).
Metering: 224 segment matrix, centre-weighted, spot.
Exposure Modes: Auto, Program AE, shutter and aperture priority, manual.
Shutter Speed: 8 to 1/4000 second.
Memory: SD/SDHC/SDXC plus 90MB of internal memory.
Image Sizes (pixels): Stills: 4608×3456 to 640×480.
Movies: 1920×1080, 1280×720, 960×540, 640×480 at 30fps.
Viewfinders: 10mm turret (210,000) plus 7.5cm LCD screen (921,000 pixels).
File Formats: JPEG, MPO 3D, WAV, MPEG4.
ISO Sensitivity: 100-12,800.
Interface: USB 2.0, AV output, mini HD, DC input.
Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery, DC input.
Dimensions: 119.8×82.9×102.2 WHDmm.
Weight: 555 g (inc battery and card).
Price: Get a price on the Nikon COOLPIX P510 at Amazon

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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