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December 22, 2006

[ REVIEW—CANON PIXMA Pro9000 printer ]

 

Price: $1100

Highly recommended

The low-down: This printer is the top of Canon’s domestic range. It produces prints up to A3+ (329x483mm) and uses Chromalife 100 inks in eight separate cartridges.

It prints labels onto printable CD/DVD blanks using the supplied software and disc tray. Setup and USB connection is simple and there is a Pictbridge port for direct connection to a camera.

Print speed is good -- about 85 seconds for an A3 print -- and image quality is superb. Prints are smooth, highly detailed and accurately coloured. Borderless A3+ prints on Canon Photo Paper Pro are breathtaking.

Like: When the supplied software is installed a Photoshop Plug-in is setup that appears in the File/Automate menu as Easy-Photoprint Pro. Using this plug-in is the easiest way to set all the correct variables for printing. It is simply a matter of selecting paper type and size, then print with border or borderless, and press the Print button.

Dislike: The ink cartridges are expensive. The best street price we could find is $24. With eight cartridges the cost of consumables is an important consideration in purchasing. Don’t be tempted by third party substitutes. To get the best out of this outstanding printer only Canon inks and papers should be used.

Verdict: The printer represents excellent value for money. Canon has a wide range of paper types, including double-sided paper and a new style of fine art rag paper that has a matte, textured surface and produces prints with a pastel appearance. We tried the art paper in the 9000Pro and were impressed with the results.

There were rumours earlier in the year that Canon intended to match Epson’s pigment inks in this new printer, but in the end they have stayed with the Chromalife100 dye inks which produce higher resolution images and have a reasonable resistance to fading providing the prints are kept in albums or protected from gas contamination in glassed frames.

 

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[ PRIME SUSPECTS ]

DPEXPERT WAS ASKED THE OTHER DAY FOR ADVICE on buying a lens for a digital single lens reflex camera. The inquirer has a choice when buying a Pentax K100D -- a Sigma 18-125mm zoom or, for $50 more, an 18-200 lens. It looks like a bargain.

Zoom lenses are a wonderful invention but, as with just about everything else to do with photography, you get what you pay for.

These multi focal length lenses are mechanically and optically complex when compared with a fixed focal length -- what is sometimes called “prime” -- lens. The glass elements must be moved in relation to each other in order the change the focal length. It is difficult to remove distortions and colour aberrations from zooms and the longer the range the harder it gets to correct the problems. This in turn means that it is only the most expensive zooms that begin to approach the optical quality of primes.

With the current crop of digital SLRs coming into a competitive market the kit lenses are being made down to a price. One way of keeping the price down is to have the lenses manufactured, or at least assembled, in China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand or Vietnam. You may think you are buying a proud Japanese brand but Sony get their kit lenses from China and Nikon have theirs made in Thailand. Canon’s come from the Philippines and Pentax from Vietnam.

When it comes to their top quality and expensive lenses it is a different matter. They are made in Japan.

More important than the location of assembly is the quality of the optics and mechanics of the lens. Corners are cut in the cheap kit lenses. The cost cutting is apparent in barrel and pincushion distortion, low contrast, poor colour accuracy and chromatic aberrations which can appear as purple fringing around sharp outlines in high contrast lighting.

Barrel distortion occurs at the wide angle end of the range and appears as straight lines near the edge of the frame -- walls, for instance -- bulging outwards. Pincushion distortion is the opposite. It occurs at the telephoto end of the range and appears as lines curving inwards.

Canon give customers a choice of kit lenses. You can buy the camera body plus a cheap lens of ordinary quality or you can opt for a more expensive and much better lens in what they call the “Enthusiast Kit”.

There is another approach to lens purchase. Consider the value of prime lenses. They are simpler to make with fewer moving parts and generally fewer optical elements. They usually offer better resolution edge to edge than zooms and produce sharper images.

Imaging’s Nikon D70 is used more frequently with a Nikkor 60mm or 180mm lens than with the kit zoom. A 60mm lens is ideal for portraiture and most prime lenses at around this focal length are also macro lenses. The 180mm fitted to a DSLR is the equivalent of 270mm on a 35mm camera and that is enough even for the Zoo. Both of these lenses were bought second hand at reasonable prices.

At the moment we are testing the Pentax K10D with a Sigma 70mm f2.8 macro lens. It is optically impressive even though it doesn’t have the smoothest mechanical actions. The on-line photo review site, Photozone, has comprehensive objective tests of most lenses and is worth checking before making a buying decision. A quick look at the reviews will show that the optical performance of cheap zoom lenses is generally mediocre while prime performance, at lower prices than the zooms, is usually good to excellent.

Of course the zoom is more convenient and versatile but there is another trade-off -- maximum aperture or the “speed” of the lens. The Sigma 70mm macro is f2.8. The Nikkor 18-70mm kit zoom is f3.5 at the wide end, reducing to f4.5 at the 70mm end.

Camera makers these days offer enticing packages of body plus two zoom lenses in what looks like an unbelievable bargain. It is -- unbelievable, that is. The rule of thumb is to buy the body and then add the best zoom in the 18-70mm range that you can afford. After that consider adding prime lenses to the gadget bag. You will get better photographic value for your money.

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December 15, 2006

[ THAT WAS THE DIGITAL YEAR THAT WAS ]

2006 HAS BEEN THE YEAR THAT has seen steady, evolutionary developments in digital photography. There have been no radical breakthroughs in either cameras or peripherals. By and large the equipment on offer has been an improvement on what has gone before, but not always.

Most camera companies appear to be in the grip of pixel madness and this year we have seen compact cameras that have had too many pixels for their own good. If there is one piece of advice that we can give from testing the 2006 crop it is this: 7 megapixels is enough for any compact camera. Above the pixel density image quality deteriorates.

 The best compacts we tested this year were the Canon Ixus 800is ($650) and the Sony DSC W100 ($580). The Canon has a 6mp sensor, 4x zoom and in-lens image stabilisation. It is in a gorgeous body and it takes consistently well exposed, focussed and processed pictures.

 

The Sony W100 has 8mp on a larger sensor area so that pixel density is comparable with the Canon. It has a 3x zoom in an attractive body and produces excellent results. Its performance at higher ISO speeds is good.

Canon and Sony have also taken the prize in the all-in-one superzoom pseudo SLR category. The Canon S3IS ($700) and the Sony H5 ($750) both have 12x zoom lenses and 6mp sensors. They both have effective image stabilisation which is essential with lenses of such extreme focal length. Canon has a useful articulated LCD screen.

In true single lens reflex cameras there have been a number of new entries this year. The Sony Alpha 100 (a reincarnated Konica Minolta) impressed, as did the Canon EOS400D. They are both 10mp cameras -- an acceptable pixel density on the much larger sensors in DSLRs. Nikon added the D80 and D40 to their range but we haven’t yet tried them.

The stand-out DSLR this year was the Pentax K100D. This is just about the cheapest such camera with an RRP of $1000 in the form that we tested it, with a Sigma 18-125mm lens. We were bowled over by the image quality produced by the Pentax, helped by the in-body image stabilisation. This camera has features such as mirror lock-up not found on more expensive cameras from other makers. The 6mp sensor may seem under-nourished by comparison with other offerings but be assured -- a 6mp image that is well processed in-camera is enough to make A3+ prints. Do you really need any more?

Phone cameras came of age in 2006 with the first models appearing with a true auto-focus lens. Up until this year the lenses in phones were extreme wide angle, fixed focus affairs but this year the Nokia N73 and the Sony Ericsson K800i arrived with auto-focus glass lenses and sensors with approximately 3 million sensors. The Sony Ericsson K800i seems to be built around Sony camera technology and it is very good indeed.

The perfect partner for a phone camera is a multi-function printer unit with an infrared receptor built in. We tried units from Canon and Epson and with both of them it was simply a matter of enabling the infrared send mode on the mobile phone, point it at the printer, press the “send” button on the phone and a 10 by 15cm print popped out of the printer. These multi-function units, combining printer with scanner, copier and sometimes faxes, are now capable of producing excellent photographic prints. It is hard to recommend a particular model because they change so frequently but we can say with certainty that you get what you pay for. There are no surprising bargains to be had.

For the digi snapper who wants to replace the local developing and printing service with in-home processing we would recommend the Epson Picturemate 250 printer ($330). This tiny printer produces consistently good results on 10cm by 15cm paper with or without a computer. Memory cards plug straight in and a camera can be connected via Pictbridge. We found that it worked best with a computer. Paper and ink are sold together in a package of 150 sheets and one cartridge.

In software we are impressed with Photoshop Elements v5 which came on the market just one month ago. In the past we had reservations about Photoshop Elements because it seemed to work on the assumption that the user is an idiot. With version 5 the idiot factor has been removed. This makes it a bit harder to use at first, but once mastered it is intuitive in its own perplexing way. Compared with Photoshop CS, which costs $1100 more, the only thing we missed were Actions -- the macros that users compile themselves. Elements 5 can be bought alone or bundled with the video editing program, Premiere Elements 3.

Last month we tested the new, simpler, cheaper monitor calibrator from Pantone with the wacky name of Huey. Anyone who is serious about standardising image colours for printing or display on the Internet needs to take the trouble to adjust the monitor. Huey is a small measuring sensor that plugs into a USB port and sticks on the screen to read colour patches generated by the software. The colour rendition is automatically adjusted and a profile generated for the monitor which, once saved, is reloaded every time the computer is turned on. Huey sells for around $200, which is a bit daunting. Presumably there is no law against sharing the outlay with friends. Everyone needs to be Hueyed, preferably once a month.

Imaging still meets people paralysed by the fear that whatever they buy this year will be replaced with something better and cheaper next year. Well, it will. But so what? Digital camera technology is now mature enough for us to be able to take the plunge without suffering the regrets of early adopters. Just do it!

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December 10, 2006

[Modest CHRISTMAS PRESENTS for DIGISNAPPERS]

DEAR SANTA, we might as well be realistic here. You probably don’t think we’ve been good enough this year to merit a Canon EOS5D with image stabilised zoom lens at $6000 or thereabouts, so we had better pitch our list closer to our 2006 virtue quotient. Say $50, give or take a buck.

The digital snapper in your life can never get too much portable memory, so a memory card is always acceptable. The price per megabyte has come tumbling down in the past 12 months and with a little bit of luck the loved one won’t know this and will think you have spent $140 on your gift instead of this year’s price of $40. If the loved one uses SD cards then you’re in luck -- a 1 gigabyte card costs $39. 1gb CF cards cost $45 and the bad news is that your Sony, Olympus or Fuji-using pal will break the $50 limit. XD cards and Memory Sticks cost about $70 for 1gb. (These prices are all taken from various Green Guide advertisements.)

Speaking of memory cards, if the significant other in your life is still transferring photos direct from camera to PC then that person stands in need of a memory card reader. Prices vary greatly but a reader for a single card type should cost no more than $15. The card reader plugs into a USB port and the computer sees it as another external drive.

USB dongles -- those handy little memory sticks that plug into a USB port -- have also dropped dramatically in price, driving the final nail into the coffin of the floppy disc. How did we ever run our sneaker-nets on 1.4mb portable memory media? These days a 1mg USB dongle will set Santa back a mere $40.

Digital photographers never have enough storage capacity, so for someone who has been really good this year Father Christmas might be prepared to leap the $50 barrier and come across with a $110 LaCie Brick Mobile hard drive that plugs into a USB port and will boost the PC storage by a useful 40gb.

Photo Review Australia continues to be our favourite photography magazine because of Margaret Brown’s excellent, objective, technically detailed camera reviews. It is a quarterly publication and a year’s subscription is $33, which includes a chance to win a camera. Look for the current edition -- Summer 2006 -- in the newsagents or check www.photoreview.com.au The current issue has reviews of new cameras from Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Sony, Panasonic, Kodak and others. Terrific value for money with good how-to articles and photo essays on the work of outstanding photographers.

Our Small Photo Application of the Year is the New Zealand software, DVDPixplay. It is downloadable from XEQUTE and costs U$29.50. This software turns digital image files into slideshows for replay on a DVD player, either in a computer or via television. It has all the desirable effects for slide transitions and the so-called “Ken Burns” pan and zoom animations. Adding images and sounds is a simple drag and drop operation. DVDPixplay has all the features of more expensive American alternatives.

And it goes without saying that DVD blanks are always acceptable. Buy the brand names.

For anyone with a Canon Pixma printer there could hardly be a better present than one of the Canon Photo Album Kits. The kit consists of a stylish binder and 10 sheets of double sided paper. The paper has a beautiful, rich satin finish and photos printed on it look sensational. The A4 kit costs $40 and the 13 by 18cm kit is $30 rrp. The binder can take up to 20 double sided sheets and the additional paper is sold as Canon Photo Paper Plus double sided satin.

Printer consumables always make acceptable gifts. High quality third party inkjet papers, such as Ilford’s excellent range, produce good results on all printers.

The little gadget that we acquired this year that has proven to be the most useful and money saving device is our Sanyo Eneloop battery charger and rechargeable AA and AAA batteries. Before we got the Eneloops we were sceptical of rechargeables, finding that they would go flat over night in storage or after very little use. We put four Eneloops into the Pentax K100D DSLR that we were reviewing in September and took 603 photos, at which point we sent the camera back but the batteries still had kick in them. Using rechargeables is good for the environment, cutting down on the billions of batteries that get dumped in landfill every year. To find out more about Eneloops and information about retailers go to the Master Instruments web site. A set of four Eneloop batteries, either AA or AAA, costs $25. The charger has a rrp of $40.

Our prize for Ripper Digiphoto Present of the Year goes to the Puzzle-It jigsaw puzzle making service. To turn one of your prize photos into a jigsaw puzzle you simply upload the file using the company’s web site and specify the size a nd complexity of the puzzle. There are two sizes, A4 and A3. The A3 puzzle has 300 pieces and costs $26. The A4 size can be cut to 20, 50 or 150 pieces costing $17, $18 and $20. The puzzle comes in a box with a reproduction of the picture stuck to the lid. Service is quick and the quality is excellent. The only problem we found with PuzzleMe is that we were forced to use Microsoft Internet Explorer to make credit card payments. As a dedicated Firefox user we were not amused.

Finally, some advice for Christmas Day. Put your camera on “burst” mode, hold you finger down on the shutter release and take hundreds of pictures. They cost nothing, which is one of the reasons for going digital in the first place. If you take enough photos there is a chance that Aunty Edna will look as though she is enjoying herself in at least one of them.

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