The Sigma 18-50 F-2.8 Lens

Image : http://www.flickr.com

The Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 lens is an autofocus lens optimized for digital Cameras and provides an extremely useful range that is the 35mm equivalent of 28mm to 80mm. With a constant f2.8 maximum aperture, this lens is very useful and performs with the best of the best. While it is very comparable to some of the best lenses it is slightly edged by those that cost 5 to 6 times the price. This lens comes in various forms fitting both Canon and Nikon.

The Sigma lens is particularly appealing not only for its large constant aperture, but also for its very compact, size. The lens is 3.3 inches long and weighs 15.6 ounces. The lens feels like it's just the right size and weight on my Nikon D300.

The Sigma 18-50 comes packaged with a petal-shaped lens hood and a soft lens case that can attach to most camera bags or even you belt. While the 18-50 lens is made of a fairly attractive plastic which has a velvety matte appearance, it is very durable and can take a beating. The lens not only looks classy, it feels like a well constructed solidly built lens. A nice feature the lens incorporates is a lock switch that prevents the lens from extending, which is very convenient when you are carrying the lens around on your camera. The lens has a manual focus ring and zoom ring, both of which rotate smoothly. The Lens takes a 67mm filter size.

The focusing speed is good. Although not blindingly fast, it is quite reasonable in low light as well as bright light. The lens motor is very quiet as it incorporates the sigma HSM motor technology.

The image quality of the lens would rank "very-good to Excellent. In using the lens I have noticed very minimal chromatic aberration and little to no barrel distortion; only noticeable around the 18mm wider side.

Performance of the lens at its widest aperture of f/ 2.8 is pretty good with only slight softness in the corners and very sharps in the center. Reducing the F stop to f/4 gives a little more room in the depth of field and results in a very sharp image. I personally feel the lens does it best at f/5.6. Of course at f/8 the lens is tack sharp but will hinder low light photographs.

I would highly recommend this lens as it is well made and is a solid build. The lens is very sharp and has the ability to produce wonderful images. The lens does come in both a HSM and a NON-HSM build. If you have a Nikon DSLR without the motor built in such as the D40, D60, D3000, D5000, you will want to make sure you get the HSM version as it will not autofocus otherwise.

Palit GTX 460 1GB Sonic Edition Review

The Palit GTX 460 Sonic edition is priced around Rs. 14,500.This Palit GTX 460 is having the same price range of  other 1GB graphic card versions are  priced. The real differentiating factor will be the package and build of the card since the performance won't vary much.

When compared to ZOTAC's offering, the Palit GTX 460 does come with a better cooler that gives you lower temperatures and also runs silent. In terms of overclocking both have the same potential and they both come with an easy to use OC tools. In terms of the bundle, this is where ZOTAC has a slight advantage since they are bundling a free game along with the card.


Pros:

• Good performance, efficient cooler, silent operation, connectivity, overclocks well

Cons:

• RAM chips aren't cooled, not all that faster than the 768MB version

Specifications:
Fabrication: 40nm
Shader Units: 336
ROPs: 32
GPU: GF104
Transistors: 1950M
Memory Size:1GB
Memoru Bus Width:256-Bit
Core Clock: 700Mhz
Memory Clock: 3600Mhz
Memory Type: GDDR5

This card comes with a bundle of :

• Installation Manual
• Driver CD
• DVI to VGA Adaptor
• Two 6-pin to molex power adaptor.

Panasonic Lumix DMC FX550 Review

The Panasonic Lumix DMC FX550 offers something a little different to other small, compact digital cameras. The basic features are a 12 megapixel sensor and a 5x optical zoom lens, but these do not really tell much of the story.

Starting with the lens it has one of the widest angles available on a camera of this size. The wide angle focal length is equivalent to 25mm in 35mm format. This may not mean a lot to you, but the important thing to know is that the lens will pack more width into a photo than most cameras manage. This comes in handy for sweeping landscapes, groups of people, interiors etc. Another zoom related feature is a small button on the top of the Lumix DMC FX550 marked E.Zoom. If you press this the camera immediately zooms into to maximum zoom.

As is becoming more commonplace additional zoom becomes available when shooting at lower resolutions. 12 megapixels is certainly overkill if all you want to do is create snapshot size photos, so you do not lose very much by shooting at fewer megapixels. If you reduce the amount of pixels to 5 megapixels the amount of zoom available increases to 7.8x. Decrease the megapixels to 3 megapixels which should still be enough for snapshot sized prints and you have 9.8x zoom at your fingertips.

The LCD screen is large at 3 inches. I also found the screen easy to see in bright light. Some of the features such as the shooting mode are selected by touching the screen. In my view Panasonic give you the best of both worlds. Although you use touch to select modes such as movie mode or scene mode other selections are made through a more traditional menu interface. I find this speeds the process up.

The menus run to five screens and there are a similar number in the setup menu too. This gives you an idea of the number of controls available to you. Panasonic have set up some of the most important features on a separate menu. This is accessible through a button on the back of the Lumix DMC FX550. This helps with ease of use and also speed, but as you can imagine it will take a while to get used to all the features and take full advantage of what the Lumix DMC FX550 has to offer.

For anyone looking to shoot movie clips you will be pleased to know the camera is able to shoot High Definition movie clips.

If you like the idea of taking a bit more control over the way your photos will look there is a manual exposure mode available to you. This lets you control the shutter speed and aperture. I like the fact that the shutter sped and aperture size are touch controlled through the LCD screen.  

Other features include image stabilization, the ability to select auto focus and exposure points through touch, aspect ratios ideal for 6 x 4 inch prints, wide screen TV playback and 6 x 4 inch prints, five auto focus modes, face recognition and a burst mode to fire off consecutive shots quickly. You can also adjust settings for contrast, sharpness, saturation and noise reduction. As you can see Panasonic has covered just about all the basis with the Lumix DMC FX550.

When it comes to picture quality the camera will not let you down either. I found very few issues outside of the few typical niggles here and there.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC FX550 is a digital camera that goes the extra mile compared with just about every other compact digital camera on the market. It is well worth taking a close look at this model before you decide what camera to buy.

Andy writes and reviews digital cameras for Cameras.co.uk. See his test shots and ratings for the Panasonic Lumix DMC FX550

Maruthi Suzuki Alto k10

Maruthi Suzuki  Alto k10:

On Wednesday, India's number one car manufacture company Maruthi Suzuki  released new car from Alto series called Maruthi Alto K10. This release was done in fashionable way. That is they have released Maruthi Suzuki  Alto k10  is 3 cities at a time through video conference via Satelite.

New features added in Alto K10 is:

•     Powered by the k10B 998cc K-series engine
•     Hawk eye headlamps
•     All new boot and tail lamps
•     Tinted glass
•     Body colored bumpers
•      Larger 13 incher tyres
•     Remote boot opener
•      Internally adjustable wing mirrors
•     Front power windows (Vxi)
•     New 3 spoke steering
•     New sporty gear knob
•     Fabric on door pads (Vxi)
•     Integrated headrests on front and rear seats.

Highlights of Alto K10:

            Superior power and fuel efficiencyAlto-K10 is powered by a 998cc three-cylinder 'K10B' engine, Peak power of 68 ps at 6200 rpm, Fine balance of more power and high fuel efficiency, High torque of 90Nm at 3500 rpm, Low emissions and Low NVH and Remarkable peppy performance.       
              
Alto K10: High on Safety and Security

•  Collapsible steering column, Headlight leveling device
•  Improved suspension system, The child locks on the rear door
•  Improved brake system, Central locking
•  Side impact beams, i-CATS, to minimizes chances of a burglary
•  Front fog lamps, High mounted rear stop lamp

             Comfort Features of Alto K10

•  Air-conditioner and a heater, Improved knee-room for rear seat passenger comfort
•  Power Steering, Remote fuel tank lid opener
• 13-inch tubeless radial tyres, Remote back door opener
•  4.6 meters turning radius to take on traffic and parking challenges Key-off reminder
•  A high 160 mm ground clearance, Internally adjustable ORVM

Asus U43Jc Bamboo series Laptop Reviews

 Asus U43Jc Bamboo series Laptop

This Asus U43Jc 14-inch laptop comes loaded with Intel Core series processor and a graphic card from Nvidia GeForce GT300 mobile series. This Asus U43Jc series laptop is having system configuration of 2.4Ghz core i3-370 M processor with 3 MB shared cache. This Asus U43Jc Bamboo series Laptop has 4 GB of DDR3 1066Mhz RAM with Windows 7 operating system. Hard Disk capacity is 500GB. 

        With 14-inch HD display, you can play HD content smoothly powered by Nvidia GeForce GT310M graphics with 1GB GDDR3 video memory. This is the first Bamboo notebook to make use of Nvidia's Optimus technology. This technology will make the system automatically switches between integrated and discrete graphics as per system requirements.Asus has incorporated Splendid Video Intelligence Technology that tweaks colors, sharpness and other visual settings automatically for best experience in this laptop series.These visuals are powered by SRS Premium Surround Sound audio. 

    

      Bamboo series laptop features includes Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, built-in 2.0 megapixel camera, and Optical drive. The USB 3.0 ports will offer transfer speeds that are ten times faster than USB 2.0.Asus has packed 8-cell battery that can be used along Asus' Super Hybrid Engine Technology. For better and easy sync of portable devices, Asus has incorporated Syncables technology for easy file sharing. 

Price of Asus U43Jc Bamboo laptop in India is Rs. 61, 999 (MRP) along with a mouse and a bag. This laptop has 1 year global warranty.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V Review

In this Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V,  Sony has used its backside-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor, Bionz image processor and a Sony G lens to try to solve two of the most common complaints about compact cameras: shooting performance and low-light photo quality. This time around they're in the Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V, a compact wide-angle mega-zoom. This Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V camera has a lot to offer particularly to those with the time and desire to get the most from it.

Pros:

• Speedy shooting performance; compact, lightweight design; plenty of fun, useful features; very good low-light photo quality for a compact camera.
• HD videos (both AVCHD 1080i and MP4) look fantastic on 50" plasma TV too.
• SD card compatibility.

Cons:

• Soft photos, videos; limited manual controls; GPS can't quickly be powered on and off.
• Choosing 16:9 format reduces to 7meg photos.

Specifications of  Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V:

• Width: 4.1 Inches
• Depth : 1.1 Inches
• Height : 2.3 Inches
• Weight : 6oz
• Resolution: 10.2 Megapixel
• Optical Sensor Type: Exmor R CMOS
• Digital Zoom:2x
• Image Stabilizer: Optical (steadt shot with active mode)

Taking Sharp Digital Pictures

Many people who transition from 35mm film to a smaller digital camera are surprised to find that many of their digital images are blurry.

The underlying cause is a slow shutter speed, which allows the camera to move during the exposure. The effect seems to be more troublesome for those using small, lightweight automatic digital cameras because:

- The cameras are smaller and lighter than the photographer is used to. While a lightweight camera is much easier to take along in a pocket or purse, the small size is harder to hold steady than an old fashioned, heavy 35mm SLR camera.

- Auto exposure settings may use a slower shutter speed than you would otherwise select. The slower the shutter speed, the greater the chance of moving the camera when shooting.

- We tend to take less time composing a shot with a small, auto-everything camera. Shooting from a moving car or trying to capture a fleeting moment is easier when you don't have to focus and set the aperture and shutter speed manually, but this ease comes at a cost. Remember to steady the camera when you press the shutter release.

- Smaller cameras are more susceptible to being shaken if the shutter release is 'jabbed' instead of pressed smoothly.

You can take wonderfully sharp, clear pictures with your small digital, but universal rules that have been followed for years still apply. Here are some hints that will help you get the sharpest pictures possible and reduce or eliminate camera shake when using your small digital camera:

1. Remember that the camera needs to be held as steady as possible. If you are shooting in any light other than bright direct sunlight, steady the camera by any means possible. A tripod or monopod will provide the steadiest camera support, but using any stationary object (wall, chair, etc.) will be a big help. If there is nothing available to use as a support, place your elbows against your body and hold your breath as you press the shutter release.

2. Practice pressing the shutter release gently. Many people tend to jab at the button, which can shake the camera. Gradually increase the pressure on the shutter release until the picture is taken.

3. Increase the ISO. Many digital cameras allow you to set the 'film speed' (ISO). Use 400, or even 1000 to get the fastest shutter speed possible. Remember that the faster the shutter speed, the grainier the picture.

4. Use a shutter speed at least as fast as the focal length of the lens. Generally speaking, you'll want to use a shutter speed at least as fast as the focal length of the lens on your camera. If you're using a focal length of 55mm, be sure the shutter speed is at least 1/60 second.

You'll see an improvement in the sharpness of your digital pictures if you are aware that small lightweight cameras are especially prone to camera shake. Follow the simple suggestions above and shoot away!