Category: Cameras

Top 9 Retro-Tech That Fill Us With Nostalgia!

Do you remember all those attention-seeking gadgets the millennial generation used to have in their childhood? If you remember them, then you’re one of the good duns of memories, and if you don’t, then no worries, I’m going to take you on a nostalgic walk down memory lane, resembling some of the most desirable and most unique gadgets from the last few decades that has been outdated now by their talented cousins. Here is a list of 9 devices that will take you back to the world of millennials:

Camcorders

The earliest camcorders were tape-based, portable, and self-contained devices used to record videos without any film, which at that time was the most beneficial feature. When companies like Sony, Kodak and Panasonic launched their Camcorders in the market, almost everyone drooled over the device, from first-time parents to aspiring filmmakers, and started making videos. Nowadays, Canon is the only major manufacturer to announce new consumer camcorders (which happened in the CES 2017) due to their less demand in the current market.

Nokia 3310

Nokia 3310 has the honour of having excellent strength, it’s been 20 years since its launch, but still, the phone is famous for its durability and often features in the many internet memes. In November 2015, the Nokia 3310 was picked as one of the first three ‘National Emojis’ for Finland, referred to as the unbreakable. It was one of the first phones to have customized Xpress-on covers, and it also featured the hugely popular game Snakes. The phone was re-launched in 2017 with a colour display, 2 MP camera and micro-SD slot.

DVD Players / Portable DVD Players

Ever get caught watching some adult stuff on the DVD player, or have you ever dealt with the stuck DVD? Back then, people used to rent DVDs for days or two and used to enjoy newly released movies at home, but the Netflix Generation will never understand this kind of life. Some of the fortunate ones used to own Portable DVD players, a very rare gadget in India, but the relaxation after freeing the jammed DVD from a home-based DVD player always hit differently.

Walkman/Discman

People always prefer zoning out for me time; nowadays, they turn on Spotify, and back then, they used to own Walkman/Discman for some musical pleasure. Walkman or Discman was a portable cassette or CD player that allowed people to listen to the music of their choice on the go. Heading out to college with the Walkman was considered one of the coolest things as it automatically gets the attention one is looking for. Sony and Panasonic were the prominent Walkman/Discman makers at that time.

Video Games

We often scream our hearts out and talk about PUBG and other new-age games just because generation next is getting addicted to them but have you forgotten about your addiction to Video games? Come on, we all used to own and loved playing a Video game, be it Super Mario, Duck Hunting, Soccer or Contra; we spend most of our childhood days and summer vacations around them, don’t you count it as an addiction? Some of the popular companies which manufactured Video Games were Nintendo, Sony and Sega.

Cassette Tapes

Before the arrival of CD’s in the market, every Indian house cupboard used to hold at least 30 different cassette tapes, mainly Bollywood hits and devotional songs. If you still dig your attic or storeroom, you’ll find a handful of them. Cassette tapes are composed of a polyester-type plastic film with a magnetic layer, and they remained well-known for particular applications like car audio, personal stereo and telephone answering machines.

Film Cameras

The smartphone generation will never understand what it was like to click hundreds of pictures on a film camera and wait for a week in excitement to see the results, which turns out to be pathetic, most of the time. Yes, it’s true! Believe it or not, for most millennial, film cameras were just a one-day gig, especially a birthday photoshoot gadget. Today, the old film cameras of a golden era are more expensive than some of the full-frame DSLR cameras.

CDs

Generation X may have seen the Burning car but have you guys heard about burning CDs? Hold on, it’s not actual burning, but burning metaphorically. Nowadays, we have HDD, SDD, pen drives and other external storage devices, but back in those days, people used to store important data, music mixes and favourite movies on CDs, and to do that, they must have to drag the files they wish to burn from work in progress to the CD drive’s window.

Wired Telephones

Last but not least, wired telephones. Almost everyone from the millennial generation pranked their friends or random people by calling them during odd hours; it was such a happy moment for us, definitely not for the receiver. However, they are still in use at some of the old government and private offices; having them at home was a different kind of thrill, especially when you’re a popular school brat. Those were the days, my friend.

DJI Mavic Air 2 Announced | Specifications, Price and Pre-Order

DJI’s Mavic Air drone was announced more than two years ago and it was about time when the drone manufacturing giant gave the Mavic Air some necessary upgrades. The DJI Mavic Air has been one of the most popular models for both casual and professional users alike.

DJI has now announced the successor to its Mavic Air and it is called Mavic Air 2. Keeping the naming as simple as it could be, the company has showered many updates on the new iteration of drone and drone lovers could not have been happier about it.

The DJI Mavic Air 2 now comes with a bigger image sensor and loses the Wi-Fi to adapt to DJI’s own OccuSync transmission tech. Not only this, but the Air 2 also has an extended flight time of 34 minutes and comes with a completely new redesigned controller. The Mavic Air 2 is currently available for pre-order for $799 and will ship to the US initially. The Fly More bundle which DJI makes usually for its drones will include ND filters, carrying bag, propellor guards, a charging hub and three batteries for a total price of $988.

The Mavic Air 2 is being touted as the smartest and safest drone yet by DJI.
Moving on, the Mavic Air 2 now get preprogrammed scene detection modes for images including snow, trees, grass, blue skies, sunsets and sunrises. The autonomous flying modes for the drones have also been updated.

Interestingly, the new sensor on the Mavic Air 2 is a ‘half-inch’ ‘Quad-Bayer’ array sensor and quite similar to the 48-Megapixel sensors which can be found on the smartphones these days. So technically, it takes 12-megapixel images and merges the images for resolution and sharpness. One can also opt to take 12-Megapixel snapshots. The lens on the Mavic Air 2 is a 28mm (35mm equivalent) fixed focus lens.

In the video department, the Mavic Air 2 can now shoot 4K up to 60fps. Not only this, but it also has support for HDR video at 4K up to 30fps and HDR panorama images. Users can now export 8K timelapse videos. Later updates have been planned to enable 8K imaging in different modes.

DJI has equipped the Mavic Air 2 will Airsense, also a first. This technology is an effective solution for detecting nearby aircraft and warning the operator immediately. However, it will be a limited functionality and will depend on which region the drone is being sold at. Other safety features include obstacle sensors to avoid collisions and bottom sensors with aux lights for an easy and safe landing in dark conditions.

With the new features and technology, the Mavic Air 2 has gained some weight and is now slightly bigger and heftier than the outgoing model. The Mavic family now look very similar to each other and can be differentiated by trained eyes only. The controller too has some design changes and features spring-loaded phone mounts for the ease of use.

Canon EOS RP – Review | Lightweight Camera

Not too long ago, Canon had launched their first mirrorless camera, the EOS RP. The EOS RP from Canon is an attempt to bridge the gap and it is quite a camera to plug-in the gap, especially in their mirrorless segment. It is like Canon has taken the 6D Mark II’s soul and put it in a smaller, lighter body which missed out on the mirror. The result is a very handly and well-balanced camera. But how does it fare in this heavy mirrorless competition, let’s find out?

Build, handling and ergonomics

The EOS RP is placed alongside the Canon EOD 6D Mark II in its lineup and most importantly, it shares a lot of tech with the latter, including the sensor and some feature set. But what makes this EOS RP a completely different camera is the well designed and small body, which is lightweight and easy to carry. At 485 grams, you might as well call it the lightest full-frame camera and that would not be wrong either. To my surprise, I found that it is quite as close to the EOS 800D body and that is a real win for Canon.

If you looking to pair it up with a Canon EOS L lens and the adapter, you will be surprised to see how easy to handle this camera is. But for now, you will only have to do with some of the bulky native lenses from the EOS R-Mount.

On the top, you have the Mode dial which sits flush on the panel. Similarly, the on-off switch on the other side which is again seated flush. The 0.39-inch 2.36 million dots electronic viewfinder sits on top without a major bump on the top. What makes a lot of people happy is the fully-articulating, 3-inch, touchscreen display which is very responsive. With the incorporation of the fully-articulation screen, Canon has just widened its reach to make videographers and vloggers who are looking for quality video output and also want a fully tilting display. Overall, it is a well-designed body which is light in weight and easy to use with less clutter.

Specifications and Features

The Canon EOS RP features a 26.2 MP image sensor and is powered by the new Digic 8 processor. The sensor is almost similar to the one on the 6D Mark II, but it has received some design changes to fit the RP. The RP features an ISO range of 100 to up to 40,000 and is expandable to a crazy 102,400. Now we all know that sensitivity really isn’t being used on a daily basis, but Canon has been thoughtful over it. As expected, Canon’s Dual Pixel CMOS AF makes its way into the RP and it claims to focus down to -5EV, which I can say, the camera never had many issues focussing in dark places. Canon also claims a focus speed of 0.05 seconds, and as per my use and experience, it has never really let me down with AF issues. The AF covers 88% – 100 % which provides a whopping 4,779 AF pointers which again are divided into 143 zones. What this essentially means is that the AF performance does not let down.

Interestingly, the servo AF now supports eye AF and Face Tracking. The EOS RP can shoot 4K videos with up to 25 frames per second, but you would not get the Dual Pixel CMOS AF and also gets a brutal 1.76 times crop. It can shoot 1080p videos up to 50 frames without a crop, where you get the Dual Pixel AF working for you. The RP does not get in-body image stabilization, but it uses Dual Sensing IS which along with the IS lenses compensates for the shakes caused while using the camera handheld.

Performance and Image Quality

For the time the EOS RP was with us at the office, I have used it extensively to shoot images and have been very satisfied with the overall performance. The review unit had been sent with a native 24-105mm f/4 lens which was an all-rounder and served multiple purposes. From shooting stills to taking videos, the EOS RP was a good performer. The images that came right out of the camera were sharp and had great colours which are very true to the scene. The ISO performance has been decent and low-light situations have been very satisfying and I have at times pushed the ISO up to 6400 to see very less grains and noise.

The video performance has been great. As we spent time shooting videos of gadgets and vehicles, the output videos were very crisp. With better lenses, expect the quality to go up even further. With the burst mode, you get 4 fps on servo mode and 5 fps with One-Shot. While this is not a great number, you can still get 50 14-Bit RAW files on a high-speed UHS-II SD card, which stands pretty impressive. You must remember that it is not a sports-oriented camera which is usually meant for snapping many frames per second.

The RAW files have enough depth and colour information which allows you to retain as much as information in the image files. This will allow you to bring out most details and tweak the images as per your liking when working on the image in post-processing. Overall, the image quality will definitely suffice all sorts of needs, be it a budding photographer who has just upgraded or a full-time professional who needs a light-weight back up camera.

Verdict

So, the question is, should you really buy the EOS RP? If you ask me now, I might have already invested my money on one. It ticks all the major boxes of performance and then brings in the soul of the 6D Mark II in a smaller and more lighter version. Technology is eventually forcing things to go smaller and yes cameras are a big part of it. Since DSLRs are now slowing down in the race with the mirrorless counterparts, it is worth investing in one, especially if it promises such performance.

Sample Images

 

Canon EOS R Review : Next Level

Design

So let’s start with the thing most people are going to notice about the EOS R when they pick it up – Build and Design. It has a very light and compact form factor, smaller than the 5D range of DSLR cameras. The physical dimensions of the camera feel a little bit small from my big hands, but thanks to the large grip, it feels like you’re never going to drop the camera, even in slippery and wet conditions. The new RF mount is wide and the distance between the mount and the image sensor is just 20mm. This gives Canon to build better lenses that let in over 100% more light compared to Canon mount body. Unlike some other mirrorless cameras, removing the lens didn’t expose the sensor.

The EOS R launched with four RF lenses, but that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with just those lens. You can attach Canon EF full-frame or APS-C EF-S lenses on the EOS with three new adapters with no loss in quality.

Performance

The Canon EOS R has a 30-megapixel full-frame sensor with 5655 focus points covering 88% of the frame horizontally and 100% of the frame vertically. This means while you have good control over your AF area placement, adjusting it is a very slow controlling with keys. But we’re very much impressed with the autofocus, thanks to the Dual Pixel technology. The main benefit of Dual Pixel CMOS AF is that it quickly speeds up focus when the camera is being operated in live-view mode. Canon EOS R supports 4K video recording. But, the 4K video is crushed by a 1.8x crop factor which means it can’t take the full advantage of the full frame sensor. On top of that, it lacks in-body stabilization, putting it at a disadvantage to rival models from Nikon and Sony. Being a mirrorless camera means the EOS R is all digital, so there is no optical finder. Instead, it has a built-in electronic viewfinder offering a high-resolution view with no lag issues. The display can flip to the front, making it ideal for selfie lovers or for vlogging. The Canon EOS R uses a custom LP-E6N rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a dedicated battery charger. It also has a USB-C port and can charge the battery over it. It doesn’t work with all chargers, Canon recommended to use its own original charger.

Specs

  • 30.3 Megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor.
  • Dual Pixel CMOS AF with 5,655 manually selectable AF points.
  • DIGIC 8 image processor.
  • Built-in EVF with 3.69 million dots.
  • Vari-Angle Touchscreen LCD and dot-matrix LCD panel.
  • Single memory card slot that supports UHS-II media.

GoPro App Integrates Quik App to Enhance Mobile Editing Experience

GoPro’s new app update will now combine Quik, a free video-editing app into a single app structure. By this way, GoPro can help you view, edit and share it faster and fresher with its new GoPro app update. Previously GoPro distributes two separate apps for iOS and Android. The GoPro app connects with a GoPro action camera, while the Quik app can edit the video. The new update introduces a fresh visual design, improved storytelling tools and enhanced filter capabilities, all powered by a revving new software engine.

GoPro app users will immediately notice design updates, from a visual refresh and a more modern UI to a more intuitive navigation. The update also bring users the more than 20 filter options and the option to apply multiple filter types within the same multi-clip video.

The GoPro app update offers additional creative flex by removing draft limitations of the previous editing model. Now QuikStory video will remain in an always-editable format so changes can be done any time.

From today, GoPro app users can get the new update and experience the benefits of the merge with Quik. The GoPro’s roadmap for the one-app experience is rich with improvements, including single clip editing to unlock a full editing suite for single clips, new themes to make your photos and videos look more like the content that GoPro produces, and expanded platforms for integrating third-party content into GoPro edits.

 

Best Travel Cameras

With the innovation in technology, capturing photos has become our daily necessities. Any great camera can make an ideal companion, but there are certain factors to look that make camera ideal for travel. Sometimes depending on your smartphone camera for long-range shots is never a good idea. Therefore, cameras come in different forms, those include DSLRs, action camera, compact digital cameras. All of them offers a different type of features and capabilities for different types of environment.

>> SIZE AND PORTABILITY

Perhaps the size and portability are one of the most important features of a travel camera. No one likes to carry a bulky camera while on a travel. A bulky camera can be difficult to manage and there might be a great chance of damage. To tackle the issue, the compact camera form factor would be the ideal choice.

>> FLEXIBILITY/DURABILITY

Travel photography comes with its own challenges. Waterproof cameras that can capture underwater shots; shockproof cameras that can survive a drop from a cliff. But, those so-called travel cameras always sacrifice one of the important criteria, the image quality. Best cameras are those that are flexible enough to be used effectively in multiple situations with great image output.

>> MEGAPIXELS

It’s a common assumption that more megapixel can make the images looks better. This isn’t true, but that depends on size of the sensor. However more megapixels on a large sensor will give you the highest detail and allow you to crop without losing quality. The best travel cameras need to have great image quality for those once in a lifetime sights you see on a holiday

>> WIFI/BLUETOOTH SUPPORT

In today’s generation, sharing travel images becomes an important part of our social life. While most cameras can’t share images on your favourite social sites, but they do come equipped with Bluetooth and WiFi support, allowing you to transfer your photos instantly to your computer or smartphone.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO CAPTURE?

Before you invest on the best travel camera, you must first list down your requirements. Every camera has its own strengths and weakness. While some camera offers superzoom, other offers waterproof and rugged-proof. It’s all depends on your needs. I’ve tried to whittle down all the many choices out there to a few solid options, based on my real-world experience.

1. GOPRO HERO6 BLACK

The GoPro Hero 6 Black is undoubtedly the best action camera on the market and my personal favourite. GoPro can capture insane high-quality images even when you are a speeding motorbike, thanks to its Electronic Image Stabilization(EIS). This travel camera shoots insane ultra HD videos at 60 frames per second and has a huge range of accessories that can mount your GoPro to pretty much anything.

2. SONY RX100 MARK V

The Sony RX100 Mark V is my favourite point & shoot camera. This powerful compact camera can simply take sharp photos and video. We can also call it a “Professional” compact camera. The camera module has a built-in Zeiss lens with a f/1.8 aperture, allowing more light to enter into the sensor and no visual noise, even in extremely low-light situations. The camera is compact and lightweight, which is a big plus for travellers hiking up on a mountain or travel around a busy city street.

 

3. FUJIFILM X-E3

The Fujifilm X-E3 is lighter than many other mirrorless cameras. The X-E3 has a 24-megapixel APS-C X-Trans III sensor and the X-Processor Pro image signal processor. The 3.0-inch LCD monitor is touch-enabled which supports the conventional “Touch Shot”, “Touch AF” and “Focus Area Selection” capabilities. It can track moving subject and capable to record up to 4K video using the X series famous Film simulation modes.

 

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