Sunday, September 23, 2012

Panasonic Lumix ZS20 14.1 MP High Sensitivity MOS Digital CameraPanasonic Lumix ZS20 14.1 MP High Sensitivity MOS Digital Camera


Panasonic Lumix ZS20 14.1 MP High Sensitivity MOS Digital Camera with 20x Optical Zoom (Black)

Thoughts: Video is smooth and high quality. Control and button placement is good and easy 
to use especially for video with its own button on top. You can take still photos while recording
videos. Telephoto works while shooting videos. Single photo 20x and extended 40x telephoto 
works well and focus stays sharp. GPS tagging works well for me with Map Flickr and Flickr and 
will make for a nice trip display for photos taken in the same trip. The map data downloaded to
the SD chip without a problem and the maps make for a nice on-camera display of the locations
the photos were taken. GPS tagging with the actual name of the location and not just coordinates 
is a feature I wasn't finding in other cameras. It's easy to burn through the battery in 1 to 2 hours
while trying out all the features. I've ordered two more batteries to ensure more picture and video
taking time. Reviewing and deleting photos is intuitive and easy. 
The ability to touch the screen to tell the camera the focus of the photo is useful on 
a moving object like wildlife. The up to 14M photos are the best I've taken with a digital camera. 
USB charging is very useful. I've ordered an AC wall charger to be used charging back-up 
batteries while the camera is in use. I'm glad I waited for the ZS20 to be released and 
didn't get the new Nicon or Canon telephoto versions. 
Smallest of the 20X cameras I was interested in. A great buy for less than $300.


LENS PERFORMANCE
Powerful 20x Optical Zoom
The DMC-ZS20's powerful 20x optical zoom (35mm camera equivalent: 24-480mm) draws your
subjects right up close, and lets you freely capture decisive sports scenes, along with the natural
expressions of people and animals, and details that you can't even see with your bare eyes

In addition, this single camera lets you record 20x zoom in video recording. It makes the DMC-
ZS20 twice as attractive.
20x Optical Zoom

40x Intelligent Zoom
The Intelligent Zoom is an extensive zoom function using digital zoom, however,
 you can even draw the subject 2x closer than the original optical zoom with minimum
 deterioration of image quality thanks to the Intelligent Resolution technology.
 This means the 20x optical can virtually extend to 40x equivalent.

24mm Ultra Wide-angle Lens
The 24mm ultra wide-angle lens* — rare on a compact camera —
gives you a wider range of composition possibilities with approx. 213%
larger viewing space compared to that of 35mm camera. The super-high-quality
LEICA DC lens minimizes distortion at the wide end.

*Converted to standard 35mm camera equivalent, at the wide-end.

LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR Lens
Newly developed LEICA DC lens system that achieves both high image quality and
small size is redesigned to further extend its powerful zoom to 20x (35mm camera
equivalent: 24-480mm). Comprising 12 elements in 10 groups including 3 aspherical
lenses with 6 aspherical surfaces and 2 ED lenses, adoption of ultra thin lens for its
new structure optical system makes the unit's overall length short to fit in the slim
body despite its versatile zoom range from 24mm ultra wide-angle to 20x telephoto.
POWER O.I.S.
The POWER O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) suppresses the low-frequency
vibration hand-shake component, which is physically generated when pressing the
shutter button or when shooting at night with a slow shutter speed.
The POWER O.I.S. also works for powerful zoom shots, which are especially
susceptible to hand-shake in a compact camera. Active mode is effective for
video recording.
MEGA O.I.S.
IMAGE QUALITY
14.1-megapixel MOS Sensor
The 14.1-megapixel High Sensitivity MOS sensor is newly developed for the DMC-ZS20 for even
higher image quality. This boasts better S/N ratio compared with the 14.1-megapixel
MOS sensor in the DMC-ZS20.
Together with the performance of the Venus Engine, quality of image shot in low-lit situations is
dramatically improved reducing the noise to its half level*.

* At ISO1600, Panasonic measurement.

Venus Engine
The DMC-ZS20's Venus Engine processes large amount of progressive full HD data at high speed.
At the same time, the multi-task image-processing engine, the Venus Engine realizes a
super-fast response time.

Intelligent Noise Reduction System
The excellent S/N ratio of the MOS sensor and the Intelligent Noise Reduction system in the
Venus Engine make both photos and videos shot at any sensitivity from low to high and boast
outstanding clearness.

Multi-process Noise Reduction System
Newly developed Multi-process Noise Reduction applies optimum noise reduction according to the
brightness of the part of the image. Images recorded in low-lit situations are now dramatically clear.

Intelligent HDR
The DMC-ZS20 integrates Intelligent HDR (High Dynamic Range) in the iA Mode. Several
still pictures consecutively shot at different exposure levels are overlaid to produce a
single composite picture without whiteout (over-exposure) or blackout (under-exposure).
The HDR Mode is also available in the Scene Mode.

Intelligent HDR
Intelligent Resolution Technology 
Apart from the uniform enhancement of sharpness, the innovative technology Intelligent
Resolution precisely performs signal processing pixel by pixel in the most effective way
according to the area. As a result, images are naturally clear and crisp.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Why Kindle Fire HD is better than iPad 3


Click the link below to read more reviews about it in Amazon:

Kindle Fire HD 7", Dolby Audio, Dual-Band Wi-Fi, 16 GB

PROS (Kindle):
1. Vibrant Screen
2. Much more responsive to the Touch than the original Kindle ever was.
3. Games that stuttered on the Original, play flawlessly on the HD.
4. The speakers are awesome, Loud, clear and crisp. No need for the Volume + app like on the original fire.
5. The device is slim, sleek and sexy. Really like the curves on the back and the styling.
6. Front facing camera works great for SKYPE. Quality was better than that on my SIII phone.
7. Wifi seems a bit faster, but not by much. Silk still isnt an optimal browser though. I have 65Mbps Download and 15Mbps Upload subscribed service.
8. Cloud sync worked like a charm, almost everything from my old fire is not on my new Fire HD.
9. The device feels sturdy and well built.

CONS (Kindle):
1. The "Customers Also Bought" on the bottom of the home screen is terrible. I can care less about what others bought. The advertisements on the Lock Screen are fine and understandable, they really dont bother me at all or with the function of the device. The CAB on the home screen take away from having your favorites immediately accessible and are extremely intrusive with no option to remove it. I would gladly keep the ads on the lockscreen and pay 15 bucks to get rid of the CAB on the homescreen. Enough on that.
2. One thing we have all noticed is that sometimes when you unlock your device, the speakers will make a popping sound, sort of like a static or feedback. Hopefully this gets fixed.
3. Compared to the Original fire, there is a noticeable delay when clicking on apps or games. It seems more prevalent on certain apps but the same apps have no issue on the original Fire. More prevalent on the HD than on the original.
4. Magic books. For some odd reason, things I remove from the carousel magically reappear to irritate me constantly. I am a bit OCD and only want what I use to be on my carousel and nothing more. Hopefully this will be fixed as well.
5. Certain apps that were available on the Kindle Fire, are not available on the Kindle Fire HD. Accuweather for example is no longer a free app on the HD neither is ScreenDim.
6. I do not understand why we cannot use a different keyboard like Swiftkey. That would be a massive upgrade over the stock keyboard.