Sony A57 translucent mirror digital camera announced: 16-megapixel sensor, 12fps for $699.99 (video)

News

  • March 14, 2012 at 7:01 am

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Sony SLT-A65 digital camera front sensor

With the entry-level Sony A55 gone the way of the dodo, the company had to fill the gap in its DSLT (digital single lens translucent) camera line-up. The just announced A57 is the official successor to the A55, which was initially released in 2010 and was the first camera to feature Sony’s translucent mirror technology.

Sony’s SLT cameras have a DSLR-style body and a mirror, but unlike DSLRs, the mirror doesn’t move. The translucent mirror allows most light to hit the sensor while some of it is reflected to a phase detection autofocus sensor. Because of this setup, DSLT cameras feature electronic viewfinders (EVFs) rather than optical ones.
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MicroOLED 0.61-inch OLED panel has a 1280×1024 resolution, looking to find it’s way into a lucky camera’s EVF

News

  • January 29, 2012 at 6:22 am

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MicroOLED 0.61-inch 5,400k dot 1280x1024 resolution OLED panel

Last year we were pretty excited with the new Sony OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF), which we tested on the Sony A65 camera, and can also be found in the Sony A77 and NEX-7.

The 0.5-inch ECX331A XGA (1024×768 RGB) 2,400k dot Sony OLED panel found in the above cameras, had at the time the highest resolution and pixel density of any commercial microdisplay. The benefit is that it provides an incredibly clear image, finally challenging optical viewfinders.

We’ve been championing electronic viewfinders as the future replacement to optical viewfinders in cameras, for some time now, because they offer certain clear advantages. First of all you can do away with the typical reflex mirror used to reflect part of the oncoming light from your lens to the pentaprism in optical viewfinders; as a result, you get more light onto your sensor and a more compact camera – see mirrorless cameras.

An EVF can also be more informative and customizable, with overlay information, and because you are effectively always looking at what the camera CMOS sensor is seeing, you have an exact live preview of what you will be shooting when you press the shutter button.

Until recently however, EVFs generally sucked, you had a pixelated image with a lot of lag and usually bad color reproduction and poor contrast.
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First rumored specs for the Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera: Micro Four Thirds, EVF and weather sealed body

News

  • January 17, 2012 at 5:06 pm

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Olympus OM-2 camera

We finally had a name for Olympus’s latest compact interchangeable lens camera this week. The Olympus OM-D was confirmed after the Japanese camera maker registered the trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Olympus has also began an ‘Om My Goodness’ teaser campaign. However, we are still mostly in the dark as to what we can expect from the new OM-series digital camera.

A Japanese website, Digicame-info, is now claiming to have received reliable information on some specs for the Olympus OM-D. The camera will be a mirrorless Micro Four Thirds (MFT) system camera with key differentiating factors to Olympus’s PEN MFT cameras being the built-in EVF and weather sealed body:
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Panasonic Lumix GX1 Micro Four Thirds camera and LVF2 EVF announced: new 16MP sensor, December release date (specs, pictures, video)

News

  • November 7, 2011 at 5:20 am

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Panasonic Lumix GX1 MFT digital camera silver

The Panasonic Lumix GX1 Micro Four Thirds (MFT) mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC) has been officially announced. We first saw the true successor of the venerable GF1 in October, while yesterday we managed to catch a good look of the high-end compact GX1 in Panasonic’s presentation video. Specifications are exactly as we had initially reported.

The Lumix GX1 has a 16-megapixel Live MOS sensor, the same that can be found in the Panasonic G3. This would mean more detail but less high ISO noise than the 12-megapixel sensor found in the GF3 (and of course the much older GF1). On the back ,you’ll find a 3-inch 460k dot touchscreen LCD; similar to other Panasonic offerings, you can touch-focus using the screen. You can also control the Lumix X Power Zoom lenses with the touchscreen. The camera uses contrast autofocus, with Panasonic claiming its as fast as 0.09 seconds. The GX1 can shoot up to ISO 12,800 and supports 1080p video in MP4 (20Mbps) and 1080i60 in AVCHD (17Mbps). We’re glad to see that it includes a stereo microphone and an accessory shoe which can host an electronic viewfinder or external flash.

Together with the camera, Panasonic announced the DMW-LVF2, a new 1,440k dot, 90 degree tilting, electronic viewfinder (EVF). The LVF2 offers more than seven times the effective pixels of the older LVF1 (with 202k dots). Unfortunately the LVF2 will not be compatible with any of the current GF-line cameras, (GF3, GF2, GF1); the LVF2 has a different set of connector which are essential in order to support the higher data transfer rate necessary for its higher resolution.

The GX1 is housed in an aluminium body, similar to the GF1, has metal buttons and a substantial textured handgrip. In terms of controls you have a typical Panasonic arrangement with two physical customizable function buttons, a mode dial, while it’s only missing the drive mode selector from the GF1. Though, remember, you can control aspects of the camera using the touchscreen as well, if you so choose. Panasonic has, for the first time, included a horizontal and vertical angle level gauge which will be displayed both in portrait and vertical use.
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Sony starts selling its ‘magical’ OLED panels, coming to a camera EVF or head-mounted display near you — hopefully

News

  • November 4, 2011 at 12:42 pm

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Sony OLED panels ECX331A and ECX332A

Sony has just reminded us of its recent accomplishments in organic EL display technology and, well, just how awesome its duo of small OLED displays is. Sony had announced its pair of high resolution OLED panels back in late August, which have since found their way into the company’s latest digital cameras and 3D head mounted display.

First you have the 0.5-inch ECX331A XGA (1024×768) panel, which has taken its place in electronic viewfinders (EVFs) and is one of the major selling points of the Sony A77 and A65 DSLT cameras and the NEX-7 mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera. The slightly larger, 0.7-inch ECX322A 720p HD (1280×720) can be found in the equally exciting Sony HMZ-T1 OLED 3D head-mounted display.

What’s so special about these OLED panels? Well, they offer a wide color gamut (90% of NTSC), high 10,000:1 contrast ratio, and fast 0.01ms response time, with 200 cd/m2 brightness. More importantly they pack an insane amount of pixels in a small area.

To put things into perspective, the 0.5″ ECX331A with a resolution of 1024×768 (RGB) has a pixel pitch of just 9.9μm. In comparison, the iPhone 4S with a 3.5″ 960×640 resolution retina display has a pixel pitch of 77.1μm. In layman terms, pixel pitch measures the size of a pixel; the smaller it is the harder it will be for your eyes to distinguish between them and the sharper and more lifelike the image. That means that each individual pixel (made up of three subpixels, Red, Green and Blue) on Sony’s OLED panel is almost 8 times smaller than that of the iPhone 4S display. This makes them ideal for applications where you need a compact design and you would put your eyes very close to the display, such as EVFs and head-mounted displays.
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Sony Alpha SLT-A65 initial hands-on, OLED EVF and high ISO tests

The Lab

  • October 25, 2011 at 5:17 pm

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Sony Alpha SLT-A65 hands-on

Despite the ominous signs on general availability of the Sony A65, we’ve already confirmed that the camera is shipping to a few lucky individuals in the US.

Stuff-Review has managed to snatch one of the first Sony Alpha SLT-A65 DSLT cameras to ship. This is an initial hands-on with the camera, which is an actual final production unit, and we’ll be sharing some first impressions and test results. As we spend more quality time with the A65 we will update you on our finds.
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Sony Alpha A77, A65 and NEX-7 ‘magical’ OLED EVF panel

News

  • August 30, 2011 at 6:25 pm

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Sony OLED EVF panel

It’s difficult to hide that we are enamored with Sony’s new line of digital cameras. A big part of the allure of both the Alpha A77 and A65 cameras and the NEX-7, is the new OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF).

EVFs have the advantage of allowing you to see exactly the same image your camera’s sensor sees and the image it will eventually record, together with any effects, while providing a host of useful information. They also allow manufactures to do away with the optical mirror and create slimmer cameras. Their disadvantages however are that, they are usually not as large or contrasty as optical viewfinders, they are obviously made out of pixels with a finite resolution and might find it hard tracking fast moving action.
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