Nikon Coolpix L620 first thoughts and links

A new Nikon Coolpix were announced today from Nikon. It is the the Nikon Coolpix L620 which is an upgrade model from the Nikon Coolpix L610. 

The Nikon Coolpix L620 has a bit bigger image sensor with 18 megapixel were the Nikon Coolpix L610 had a sensor with 16 megapixel.This really isn't a big difference, but expect there to bit some small incremental improvements compared to the L610. This also means you get a 6% bigger picture out of the camera, which is better for cropping the picture, but also at the same time takes a bit more space.

The biggest improvement is in the battery life. Where the camera can last longer on the same batter. You can expect to take about 20-25% more pictures with the new Nikon Coolpix L620 vs the old Nikon Coolpix L610. This is great news.

The Nikon Coolpix L620 will start at $250 which is $60 dollar more than the list price for the Nikon Coolpix L610 and that one can be found on sale for a little less than $150. Based on this don't wait for the new Nikon Coolpix L620, just go out and grap the existing L610.

• Press release
• Product page

To keep up with what comes of articles about the new lens. Keep and eye out at it page on Nikon Index, where I will update the pages as I find more information.

Nikon Coolpix S6600 first thoughts and links

This new Nikon Coolpix S6600 were introduced today and is an upgrade from the Nikon Coolpix S6500.

For the most part it is the same camera, but there are some differences. The main one is the LCD screen that can be flipped and you can use gestures to operate the camera. This sound great, but when you think about it how often are you really going to use gestures to operate the camera? My guess is not much.

The camera doesn't seem to come to USA at this point in time as it was only announced on the global site and the European site, but it might get to the USA at a later point.

• Press release
• Product page

To keep up with what comes of articles about the new lens. Keep and eye out at it page on Nikon Index, where I will update the pages as I find more information.

Nikon Speedlight SB-300 first thoughts and links

A entry level flash for those people that doesn't want to use something besides the flash that is on the camera. It is the Nikon Speedlight SB-300 that were introduced today. It got a bit more flexibility in how the flash head can turn than the SB-400, so it can be used to bounce on the celling in the room instead of just shooting the light straight out like the on board flash does and the Nikon Speedlight SB-400 does. You can' turn the flash to either sides as you can with the bigger flash models, which would have been a great feature. That would have made the flash a home run and it is strange that it doesn't have that feature. A small flash that can turn in any direction like the bigger flash would have been a great sales hit as sometime size and weight does have an effect on the equipment you pack.

It has almost the same specification as the Nikon Speedlight SB-400, which only advantage is that it has a little bit more of flash power than the SB-300, but it is very little. At the same price level you should really go for the new Nikon Speedlight SB-300 as it has the possiblity to bounce the light of the celling and it is also smaller and lighter.

• Press release
• Product page

To keep up with what comes of articles about the new lens. Keep and eye out at it page on Nikon Index, where I will update the pages as I find more information.

AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED first thoughts and links

Today Nikon announced that they have a new lens for the Nikon DX format. About 7 years ago Nikon introduced almost the same type of lens with a focal length of 18-135mm, but it is retired product. The older lens is a lens that gotten a bit good deal of not so good reviews and it is the third worst reviewed lens in the Nikon DX standard zoom range. It the last couple of years Nikon has produced some great lenses, so this good very well be one of them.

Looking at the specs for the lens, there are only minor differences from the old 18-135mm lens with a bit more glass in the new lens, which also means that the new 18-140mm lens is a bit more heavy (490g vs 385g). The biggest difference from a spec point of view is that the VR in the lens gives you 4 stops, where it only gives you 3 stops in the old lens.

When you look at what the lens is up against it is the great 18-105mm from Nikon and the 18-200mm also from Nikon as long as you want a clean Nikon setup. There are third party lenses also on the market, but here you have to watch as not every lens has the high standard as Nikon normally does.

It clearly that Nikon feels a gap with the new lens. The 18-105mm lens is currently priced at about $400, the 18-200mm at about $850, so here the 18-135mm fits nicely with a price about $600.

Until we see any reviews of the new lens it is hard to recommend which to go for, but my initial thoughts are to go for the 18-105mm. It is a great lens for the price.

• Press release
• Product page

To keep up with what comes of articles about the new lens. Keep and eye out at it page on Nikon Index, where I will update the pages as I find more information.

Panasonic Lumix GX7 first thoughts and links

The mirrorless market is the hottest in the camera market with many people moving from their big digital SLR cameras to the smaller form factor with the same options to be able to exchange lenses and have great picture quality.

Today (1. August 2013) Panasonic introduced the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7, which has been rumored for the last couple of weeks. Panasonic is big in the mirrorless market, but is still behind Sony who is the current leader. One of the great things about the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7 is that is uses the Micro Four Thirds format, which has been lenses available, so it makes a great system choice.

The best thing about the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7 is in my mind the live view finder that is a part of the body to keep it small, but at the same time makes it possible to shoot pictures like you do with your digital SLR camera.

• Press release
• Product page

This will be a great product and a sure hit. I will be monitoring and updating on a weekly basis what comes of great articles on this product at the Panasonic Index/Panasonic GX7. Nothing there yet, but reviews from around the net will be coming here, so be sure to check back or just watch this blog on when the index is updated. 

Updates to index sites :-)

Here is a small recap of the updates to my index sites:

• Leica Index (NEW SITE)  - 54 links
• Samsung Index (NEW SITE) - 63 links
• Sigma Index (NEW SITE) - 204 links
• Zeiss Index (NEW SITE) - 85 links
• Pentax Index (NEW SITE - 291 links
• Canon Index - 1492 links, 119 new links
• Nikon Index - 2022 links, 230 new links
• Panasonic Index - 239 links, 35 new links
• Fujifilm Index - 181 links, 34 new links
• Olympus Index - 240 links, 29 new links
• Sony Index - 652 links, 145 new links

There is a lot of quality information to be found here. Check out your equipment or what you are considering to buy

New best place to find Nikon and Canon information

This blog has been a bit silent the last couple of months and now I am ready to tell you a little secret.

I have been working on a new index for Nikon and Canon articles that should make it a lot easier to find quality information about the equipment you have or are on your wishing list.

There is still a lot to do on these new sites, but already it is a great place to find information. I have indexed a lot of articles to make it easier for you, but I have also (with Google) given you a great search engine to find the right information much better that the standard Google search. Go and try it out:

• Nikon Index
• Canon Index

If you are looking for Olympus equipment you might want to check out:

• Olympus Index
• Panasonic Index