Lumix takes sharp images, but battery life is suffering-Boston Globe

Digital cameras have more digital every day. Just look at Lumix GH2, an impressive new camera from Panasonic Corp. using a technology that removes some of the extensive mechanical hardware of older design, Panasonic has put together a camera that is small, light and quick on the draw.

It is not a simple point-and-shoot pocket model, but a complete, digital, single-lens reflex camera or DSLR. Most such cameras like the Nikon D90, owner, is relatively large and heavy. It is because when you point to a standard DSLR on your topic, it is supported on a mirror for feed materials the image from the lens through a glass Prism and into the Viewfinder like his movies-user ancestors. When you have lined up your shots and pressed the button, Attach the mirror of the road for that postponed the digital image sensor that detects the image. Everything works very well, but the mirror and Prism means a larger, heavier camera.

My D90, a joint between class DSLR, heavier than 2.5 pounds, zoom lens and all, but the Lumix tested with a similar lens is weighed less than 2 pounds and felt almost too small for my hands. It is called due to a strange named technology Micro four thirds, which eliminates the need for a mirror and Prism. Instead feeds the camera an image from the lens to an LCD monitor on the camera back and another inside the Viewfinder.

Lumix is also smaller, because the Micro four thirds cameras use a smaller image sensor than most other DSLRS. I found this resulted in poorer low-light performance than with my Nikon. But with 16 megapixels to play with, the image quality was usually quite sharp, and when there was less light, I compensated by adjusting the sensitivity of the kameræts.

Change settings takes a flurry of button pushes on my Nikon, but is virtually painless on the Lumix because its rear LCD screen is touch-sensitive. Press an icon with your finger, and you get a host in the options menu. With just a few more taps, you can set most of the essential camera settings. The screen shows the immediate impact of some changes on the image you are trying to register. Change the color balance, for example, and you see the result immediately, without having to shoot a picture. And when you're ready to shoot, you can shoot the shutter without increasing the camera with your eye; just press the screen. In the same way you can check the kameræts video mode, which delivers HD movies with resolutions up to 1080i.

While the Auto focus on the D90 can be painfully slow, Panasonic camera locks in quickly, even in lighting subdued rooms. One of its Auto focus modes even, you can lock onto a person or an object. The camera continues to focus on the goal, although it moves.

But while my Nikon is good for a few thousand shots before recharging, Lumix was dead after only 300 or so. All these advanced features are murder on the battery. They are also not so fun for your bank account. Without a lens Lumix sells for $ 899.95; as I tested, with a lens which zooms from 14 to 140 millimeters, it goes to $ 1,499.95. You can buy a D90 and zoom lens at Amazon.com for under $ 1000, but gives you three-year-old technology.

And while we are on the topic, what about the wretched cameras that Apple building in the iPad 2 Tablet PC, which I tried last week? I wrote that photos from its rear camera was so poor that I predicted a trip to the workshop. I trøde, it was only the volume I had, but the same sad performance has been reported by many users over the network. And while Apple does not release detailed specifications on the camera, tech homepage iFixit.com tore new tablet from each other, and found a camera that delivers less than a megapixel resolution, compared with 5-megapixel camera found on the Motorola Mobility Inc. rival tablet, Xoom.

It appears that it is hardly anything. Motorola has not released sales figures, but tech industry analysts say that despite its name, Xoom is not budging from store shelves. In the meantime sells retailers out of the iPad 2. One thing is certain; No one is buying it to kamera

Posted in digital cameras

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