Randomness from the Past Couple of Months

Like I mentioned a few days ago, I posted some 35 pictures on my Flickr page, but I decided to post only 10 here, the ones I consider the better ones of the bunch.  There's nothing particularly special about any of them, they're just nice.

I will mention the 8th picture down, of the gentleman on the table looking like he has a headache.  He did not like me taking a picture of him.  He didn't say anything but he looked at me really funny.  I'm actually surprised he saw me.  I was in front of him, but he seemed in his own little world.  In any case, it's probably my favorite picture of the past few months, so at least this guy can feel good about that.

Here goes:

I woke up one morning and just couldn't really see the parking lot 150 feet down.  Maybe Tux had better luck.

For some reason I like these kinds of shots.  It's been edited to look contrasty and somewhat sharper than it was, but I like the texture and feel of the shot.

I'm not sure what kind of story this shot tells you but it says something.  I suppose, taking it again, I'd want to get something in the background because as is, it doesn't really situate the beer can anywhere.

Some people waiting for the bus in a dark, dark bus stop.  One guy pulled out a fantasy book of some kind, the other just sat on the chair.

This picture is better if it's a bit smaller.  Why are clubs so dark?  I like the idea of some random guy looking at these two girls getting freaky on the dance floor.  That stupid Rickard's sign blocks out some of the scene, but hopefully you get the idea of what's going on, anyway.

More waiting at a bus stop, this time at a different stop on a different day.

Wide-angle lenses are pretty nice.  I took this with the Canon S100. I was actually walking on the sidewalk and managed to get these two people looking over the river, with the 24mm-ness (equivalent) wide-angle end of the lens.

Regardless of what this gentleman thought of me, I love this shot.  I just like him looking the way he does, with the two birds going about their lives, not really paying attention to him.

I found it funny how people were using this building to advertise this movie.  It's also interesting because, say it was a dictator's place, it would definitely be private property and you wouldn't be able to trespass on it.

Last of the bunch for today.  I was walking around the Market and it was fairly dead, but I did catch a few shots, this being my favourite of them.  Just a guy playing guitar, busking for money.

I hope you enjoyed these, and there's hopefully going to be more coming soon enough.  I don't have much of a backlog, but I might go through my archives and post things I haven't touched in a while.  We'll see.

Mini-reviews: Canon Elph 320, Olympus TG-820 and Nikon P510

It's been forever since my last post, but because it's much nicer outside now I'll hopefully have more to post.  I should have a few pictures up in the next few days, but here's something a little bit different: a few mini-reviews.  I suppose I should call these mini-overviews, given I can't really talk about the picture or video quality; I played around with the cameras, but didn't really have the inclination to put in a memory card to see what the results would be.  In any case, here are my impressions of these cameras.

Canon Elph 320

This is Canon's touchscreen camera model and, quite honestly, the touchscreen isn't very good.  Sony does it much better with their T/TX series.  Sony's screens are simply more responsive, which, what with the screen being touch sensitive and all, is the most important part.  There are no issues with the layout and interface on the Elph 320, but the screen seems a bit stiff, especially compared to the Sony TX10 or T110.

The 320 has wifi capabilities, and these two features (touchscreen and wifi) are what distinguish this model from the Elph 110, because other than those, both cameras are exactly the same.  They both have the same 16.1 MP sensor, Digic 5 processor and 5x optical zoom.  The addition of wifi is nice, but the only interesting feature is being able to send pictures from camera to camera, though I'm questioning the practical use of this option.  Standard options like emailing and sending pictures to Facebook and Twitter, videos to Youtube, are also included.  Samsung seems to have better wifi integration, and allows you to control the camera through your smartphone (provided you've downloaded the iOS/Android app), whereas Canon only allows you transfer files and send them to various services.  Samsung also allows you to send your photos to (among others) SkyDrive if you use that, whereas Canon only allows their Canon Image Gallery.

The camera comes with all the Canon bells and whistles offers, like a million different filters (B&W, sepia, vivid, super vivid, and the like), all the effects you can imagine (fisheye, miniature (still and video), colour accent, among others), as well as Super Slo-Mo video, shot at 240 frames per second.  This comes standard with all the cameras boasting the Digic 5 processor.  This mode is not very practical, but playing with it is definitely a lot of fun.  Standard video shooting is 1080p, and Canon has enabled all 2012 models to zoom while shooting video, which is something they should have done a little while ago.

All these features are a nice inclusion and won't be of any surprise to any longtime Canon user.  Also not a surprise is probably going to be the image and video quality, which I'm assuming are going to be great.  Canon has always had great processing and the Digic 5 processor is very strong.  The files out of my S100 are terrific and though shouldn't be compared directly with any Elph camera, they're a nice indication of what the Elph cameras should do.

Quite honestly, as far as a camera goes, the Elph 110 is a better deal.  The wifi integration on the 320 is nice to have, but people wanting to send pictures and videos to whatever website they want will generally take pictures and videos with their smartphone instead, and not be limited by access points and such.  The 320's touchscreen is its downfall, honestly.  I like the UI, but, with Canon, I'd rather have buttons to use.  If you can get past those, this seems like a nice little compact camera.

Olympus TG-820

Since last summer, I've only mentioned Olympus when talking about their scandal, but they've also been releasing cameras since then!  The OM-D is well-reviewed and I'd love to be able to play with it.  The TG-820 is now their mid-range tough camera (replacing their 6xx/x series), and I can say it's well-built.  I find the TG-810 slightly more solid, but the 820 has the same specs when it comes to toughness ratings.  Waterproof down to 10m, shockproof up to 2m, freezeproof to -10 celcius and crushproof up to 100 kg, this will definitely be able to withstand whatever you do with it.  Indeed, I've dropped it and stepped on it a few times and not even a scratch.

What's new to this camera is a CMOS sensor and based on what the OM-D can do, I'm really curious at the low-light/underwater quality of this camera.  The camera also has a 5x zoom, but has this intelligent digital zoom feature (also seen in Sony and Panasonic cameras) that allows you to zoom out to 10x, while still keeping full 12 MP resolution shots.  In a pinch, it's a nice option to have, but because the camera has to interpolate pixels, I imagine the image isn't as sharp as an optical 10x zoom.  Olympus isn't a leader in video, but I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the 1080p video quality.

Not only does the TG-820 have standard effects/filters (B&W, fisheye and the like), it also has some very interesting retouching features I've never seen inside a camera before.  After taking a portrait, you can go in and tweak the smile, skin, eyes and facial features to improve that portrait.  It's like having a mini-photoshop edition in your camera.  The changes are not drastic, mind you, but the subtle changes can take a nice picture and make it just that much better.  One nice filter they added is called 'Fragmented' and I like the look it has.  It takes your picture and breaks it up in small, offset squares, giving, well, a fragmented look.  I thought I'd mention this because I like it.

The one thing Olympus took out from last year's model is the GPS, which, for a tough camera designed for hiking and travel (and especially coming from Olympus), is pretty much a necessary inclusion at this point.  Olympus's flagship tough camera, the TG-1, will have it, but they should have also included it in this model, as well.  All in all, this seems like a respectable camera if you want a tough camera.  It's well-built and has a very nice set of features.

Nikon P510

Just to get this out of the way first: yes, this has a 42x zoom, which is insane.  Moving on.  This zoom is going to be the main reason the general consumer would buy this camera.  Most people don't seem to care all that much about many of the bells and whistle that companies cram in their bodies, so they'll look at the zoom, because most people want a quick, responsive camera that will perform well in the dark and that has nice zoom.  I have no qualms about this camera's responsiveness, provided there's enough light, obviously, and, to be honest, though I trust the JPEG engine on the Canon SX40 a bit more, the P510 has many terrific features that the SX40 does not.  The P510 comes with a 16.1 MP sensor, and, somewhat disappointingly, only an Expeed C2 processor, instead of Nikon's new Expeed 3 processor (or a variation thereof).  (The Canon SX40 has a Digic 5 processor, the first camera along with the S100 released with this processor.)

The first feature I noticed was the intervelometer setting.  This is actually the one feature I'm most excited about, though most people don't seem too keen to embrace.  The ability to do time-lapse photography in-camera is relatively rare, especially on non-pro cameras.  If I owned the P510, this is pretty much the only feature I'd use on it.  Other than that, the SX40 also lacks GPS capability, which the P510 has.  Again, for a nice travel camera, this inclusion is thoughtful.  The camera also has the standard array of filters and effects, such as black and white, fisheye and miniature effect.  However, the colour accent mode in the Canon cameras is a bit better thought out.  In the P510, you have to choose from specific colours (ie. light blue, blue, light red, red, etc...), whereas in the Canon cameras, you have the freedom to choose any colour you can see through your screen.  Having said that, the panorama mode in the P510 is a motion-type panorama, where you drag the camera across the scene and all the stitching is done in-camera.  The Canon panorama mode is a lot more involved and pretty archaic.

A few cons on the P510 to finish off.  The screen on the SX40 flips to the side, and rotates 270 degrees.  This is a nice feature if you want to turn the camera on yourself, as you can see what you're shooting.  The P510 screen tilts up and down and that's it.  It adds a nice level of flexibility to shoot over and under things, but it's not as useful as the one on the Canon camera.  The last thing I'll mention (and the first thing I noticed when turning on the camera) is that the menu system is a bit clunky.  This isn't usually a problem, as Nikon menus are not too complex to begin with, but because the P510 has so many features, it may take a little while to figure out how all the buttons work with the menus and dials.  This is a small gripe, but for most consumers that want an easy camera to use, it may be slightly irritating.

This is a nice bridge camera.  It's not my favorite type of camera.  I don't like too much zoom, but the features are nice.  It's a solidly-built body, and it's not a bad choice.


I might add more small reviews like these ones if I get the chance to do it.  I might attempt to get sample shots and videos next time, but I don't know possible that is for various reasons that aren't really important to expand upon.  In any case, I'll have new posts up soon!