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Author Archive for Daniel Lim

Sigma new 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM hands-on : sharpness at wide open

By Daniel Lim on Tuesday, Mar 10th 2009 No Comments

You want more choices of walk-a-round 24-70mm zooms with silent motors? Here’s your latest option, but it comes in at a slight higher premium cost that one would normally expect from a 3rd party lens maker like Sigma. Sigma’s new 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM Autofocus Lens now incorporates HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor) – a quieter and speedy AF – with full time manual focusing capability and much superior lens construction. At twice the cost of the previous model, ($1,400 retail, $900 street) does it warrant the upgrade? We dropped by Sigma during PMA 2009 to find out more.

sigma 24 70mm hsm os 480x319

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SigZilla 200-500mm F2.8 incompatible with 5D Mark II ?

By Daniel Lim on Tuesday, Mar 10th 2009 No Comments

The Sigzilla was back on show again this year, but with a different support. At PMA 2009 it appeared on a very tight-fitting Wimberley Ver II, so now wildlife photographers know they’ll need no custom mounting if they want the fastest Autofocus 500mm at F2.8 ever built. On the other hand, not that you could afford one, or the behemoth optics were even practical on the field, 5D Mark II owners might have compatibility issues with the earth-green bazooka.

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PMA 2009 : Sigma talks new zoom lenses

By Daniel Lim on Monday, Mar 9th 2009 No Comments

Last year, Sigma unveiled a line of telephoto zoom lenses at PMA 2008 with HSM and OS (mechanical Optical Stabilizer). This year at PMA 2009, Sigma is adding wider angles to its new series of zoom lenses, ranging from 10mm to 250mm.

sigma 50 250mm dslr lens 480x319

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PMA 2009 : Panasonic Tough DMC-TS1 Lumix Hands-on – Rugged compact camera

By Daniel Lim on Monday, Mar 9th 2009 No Comments

We love to see gadget gets tested on the spot. Last week you’ve seen the Olympus Tough Styles get physically abused on video, and now we have another cool presentation from Panasonic booth at PMA 2009 showing off their first-gen rugged camera withstanding drop test, being submerge in the water, and resistant to sand damage.

panasonic dmc ts1 1 480x319

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PMA 2009 – Olympus E-620 hands-on : video intro and high ISO images from Raw files

By Daniel Lim on Sunday, Mar 8th 2009 No Comments

What was the highlight of PMA 2009? The introduction of a new breed Samsung’s NX hybrid camera, or its counterpart Micro 4/3 standard from the Panasonic GH1 and Olympus E-620? The former gets Full HD recording at 24hz capability, while the latter boosts World’s most compact anti-blurred DSLR. We covered the Samsung and Panasonic briefly in previous posts, and now is Olympus’s turn.

olympus e620 iso small

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Panasonic Micro 4/3 GH1 and 14-140mm – Video feature hands-on – AF and Manual mode tests

By Daniel Lim on Saturday, Mar 7th 2009 No Comments

Having used the Canon 5D Mark II for daily works, I was impressed by the Panasonic GH1’s video recording features; it’s capable of Full HD 1080P pixel resolution motion capture at 24hz; audio is equipped with a built-in stereo microphone that’s not picking up humming or zooming noise; and is the first digicam with interchangeable lens to provide a full manual video mode allowing adjustments for both aperture and shutter speed. On the opening day, we had a quick hands-on at the booth, but it wasn’t enough, so we returned to find out more on the continue AF speed and video mode in manual setting. [test video after the cut]

panasonic gh1 test

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One evening in Vegas with Lensbaby’s composer and 0.42x Super Wide Lens

By Daniel Lim on Friday, Mar 6th 2009 No Comments

We met with Craig Strong, the co-founder and brain behind the Lensbaby’s ingenious selective focusing SLR lens at PMA 2009. Craig invited us to test out the composer and the complimentary 0.42x Super Wide lens as part their Optical swap system, and that was hard to refuse. Why not? The show was slow anyway, Yes Sir. Give me an EF mount.

lensbaby 0742 480x319

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Panasonic Micro 4/3 DMC-GH1 hands-on, gets video intro

By Daniel Lim on Thursday, Mar 5th 2009 No Comments

Another star from PMA 2009 is unquestionably the Panasonic DMC-GH1 Micro 4/3 digital camera launched at the very first day of the show. The second-gen Lumix features the same 12.1MP Live MOS sensor from the 5–month old G1, adds Full HD 1080p movie recording with ability to continue auto-focusing, and has a built-in stereo mic for much superior audio recording. If you’re new to the Micro 4/3 concept, check out the video (after the cut) from Panasonic’s training field manager, Matt Fraser, who talked with SlashGear about the new GH1 and compared it to previous models.

panasonic dmc gh1 2 480x319

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PMA 2009 : Samsung NX hybrid DSLR up-close

By Daniel Lim on Wednesday, Mar 4th 2009 No Comments

Samsung’s hybrid NX series camera has proved to be one of the biggest events of PMA this year. Launched one day prior to the show opening, technical details were scarce in the press release. Cousin to the Micro 4/3 standard, the Samsung platform uses a full time electronic viewfinder, eliminating the need for a bulky mirror box and optical viewfinder to allow for a smarter and lighter hybrid DSLR. We dropped by the Samsung booth during the show to find out more.

samsung hybrid camera nx 1 480x319

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JVC Everio X GZ-X900 hands-on video & sample footage

By Daniel Lim and Chris Davies on Wednesday, Mar 4th 2009 1 Comment

JVC announced their Everio X GZ-X900 camcorder at PMA 2009 today, and SlashGear’s Daniel Lim was on hand to get some hands-on time with the 1080p mini-marvel. After the cut, a video overview and tour of the new high-def JVC flagship, plus sample video Daniel shot at PMA.

jvc gz x900 1 480x319