GoPro Hero HD Launches Dive Housing

GoPro has launched its new Dive Housing and it looks picture perfect.

I had the opportunity to see the unit at The Digital Show in Melbourne on Friday the 25th May. What the guys at GoPro are saying is true the results of the new Dive Housing really overcomes the issue people were having when using the GoPro Hero HD in underwater situations.

The Large flat glass lens allows maximum video and photo sharpness underwater in all resolutions. It doesn't allow the unit to go any deeper than the original housing, still at 60m or 197ft deep.


The Dive Housing is compatible with all HD Hero units and Gropro mounts and accessories.
In the Box:

• Waterproof Dive Housing
• Protecting Lens Cap
• Tether String
• Assorted Mounting Hardware

With the new Dive Housing the GoPro HD Hero;s reputation as the most versatile camera in the world is very solid.

Available for order were I work, http://www.camerahouse.com.au/products/General-Accessories/Go-Pro-Dive-Housing.aspx

The Digital Show

I had a great time today at The Digital Show in Melbourne today. There is so much on to learn and explore, from the latest in Photography to seeing great works of art from our fellow Photographers who always are inspiring and tell a great story.

Some highlights were:

• Playing with Canon's 800mm Telephoto Lens.
• Olympus' new 75mm micro 4/3rd lens which is like looking deep into your soul.
• Learning how to set up a green screen for cool Portraits, thank you Dragon Image.
• Seeing Gopro's Wifi Back in action.
• Nikon's D800 out of the box, I have sold 4 and not played with one till today.
• JJC's Conversion Lens Adapters.
• Lowepro's new Flipside Sport great security for your camera gear in this backpack for when you are on the move.

So little time to check it all out, if you like anything to do with photos you should get along to The Digital Show. 

Kata DP 413 Camera Case Review

I have just bought the Kata DP-413 Camera Bag for my wife's new camera the Samsung WB850F. It fits it perfectly, it has many hidden treasures in it.

This bag is made for large size compact cameras and is a non bulky design. The Kata DF-410 would fit bigger cameras like the Canon G12 and Olympus XZ-1.
It features:

• Shoulder strap - Small and discreet.
• Velcro Belt Strap - So you can put it on and off without having to undo your belt.
• Zips Shut - www.kata-bags.com offer a lifetime warranty on Zips failing!
• SD Card/Battery Bag inside the Case - You you are not having to fumble around for your SD card or battery.
• Divider - Your camera and Accessories are separated.
• Rain Cover - Protect your camera from the environment.

So I recommend this Camera Case for your next camera as it is just the best for the larger style of camera.

How do I stop my photos from over exposing? Using ND Filters.

One Filter I never like to go without is a ND (Neutral Density) Filter and my newest addition is a Variable ND. This allows me to change my stops on the fly! From ND4-ND400!


ND filters will allow you to take more control over light, if there is too much light in the scene such as a Beach or Snow throw this on to reduce the blinding overexposure in your shot. My favorite use of the ND Filter is for Waterfalls as it slows down the water and everything looks silky smooth. You can also use it clouds, cars, seas.


I also love to use a ND Filter to increase Depth of Field if I am doing a portrait shot. It allows wider apertures to be used making the subject distinct from the background.

What is Clear Image Zoom? Is it Optical or Digital Zoom?

Clear Image zoom is Digital Zoom.

What is happening is there is really good algorithms in the camera that fix camera shake and noise so it looks like you are optically zoomed out to the intelligent zoom amount.

Example the Sony DSC-HX60V has a 30x optical zoom and can take you to 60x Clear Image zoom. Allowing you to get that little bit more in before losing sharpness and detail.

Samsung WB850F 16.2 MP Smart Camera Review

Samsung WB850

I Just played with the Samsung WB850 today and loved every bit of it.


The wifi is just too good, now I can back up all my photos on the fly using PC backup when I get home. Shoot a photo off to mum with an email on the camera using wifi, and share it straight away to my facebook page, and show it off on my TV via all share.
The Smart Auto 2.0 makes taking a photo so easy, I don't have to think, I can take a portrait shot then a macro without having to change any settings.


It makes a great companion to my Samsung Galaxy S II mobile. I can use remote Viewfinder to see live on my camera through wifi direct and get great self portraits and even use it as a remote for macro pictures. You can download this app from Google Play or the App Store.


So what? It has good bells and whistles you might say, does it take good pics?
It uses a Schneider lens that delivers clear and sharp images for a compact camera. 16MP Backside illuminated sensor which means to you and I that it takes a good photo day or night, inside or out, parties and nightclubs. Full HD movie so it looks tops on our big TVs, Optical Image Stabiliser (OIS) to give us better photos at night and when we zoom in.


I must say it really is a great Camera. Samsung is leading a revolution in cameras this year and going to make a big impact in the market place. For more info chat to an Expert at Macarthur Camera House.


Head over and like Macarthur Camera House's Page http://www.facebook.com/macarthurcamerahouse and share some of your photos with the team.


Here are the specs:

Image Sensor

Sensor Type	CMOS
Effective Pixel	Approx. 16.2 Mega pixels
Total Pixel	Approx. 16.8 Mega pixels

Lens

Focal Length	Schneider-KREUZNACH 21x Zoom Lens f = 4.1 ~ 86.1mm (35mm film equivalent: 23 ~ 483mm)
F No.	2.8 (W) ~ 5.9 (T)
digital zoom	Still Image mode: 1.0X ~ 4.0XPlay mode: 1.0X ~ 9.4X (depends on image size) Smart Zoom 1.33X

Image Stabilisation

mode	DAUL IS (Optical + Digital Image Stabilisation)

Display

type	AMOLED
Size	3.0"(7.62cm)
Features	3.0" (7.62cm) VGA ( 640X480 ) 614k dots ( PenTile )

Focusing

type	TTL Auto Focus (Centre AF, Multi AF, Tracking AF, Face Detection AF, Face Recognition AF, Selection AF)* Manual Focus
Range	Normal: 80cm ~ Infinity (Wide), 350cm ~ Infinity (Tele)Macro: 10cm ~ 80cm (Wide), 150cm ~ 350cm (Tele) Auto Macro: 10cm ~ Infinity (Wide), 150cm ~ Infinity (Tele) Manual: 10 cm ~ Infinity (Wide), 150cm ~ Infinity (Tele)

Shutter Speed

Smart Auto: 1/8 ~ 1/2,000 seconds, Program: 1 ~ 1/2,000 seconds, Night: 8 ~ 1/2,000 seconds, Manual: 16 ~ 1/2,000 seconds

Exposure

Control	Program AE, Aperture Priority AE, Shutter Priority AE, Manual Exposure
Metering System	Multi, Spot, Centre-weighted, Face Detection AE
Compensation	±2EV (1/3EV steps)
ISO Equivalent	Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1,600, 3,200

Flash

mode	Auto, Auto & Red-eye reduction, Fill-in flash, Slow sync, Flash Off, Red-eye fix
Range	Wide: 0.3m ~ 4.96m (ISO auto), Tele: 0.5m ~ 2.35m (ISO auto)
Recharging Time	Approx. 6 seconds

White Balance

mode	Auto WB, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent_H, Fluorescent_L, Tungsten, Custom, K

Still Image

mode	* Mode (Dial) : 1) Smart Auto, 2).Program, 3) A / S / M, 4) Scene, 5) MAGIC Plus, 6) Wi-Fi, 7) GPS, 8) Movie* Smart Auto: Portrait, Night Portrait, Night, Backlight Portrait, Backlight, Landscape, White, Macro, Macro Text, Tripod, Action, Macro Colour, Natural Green, Blue Sky, Sunset, Fireworks* Scene: Beauty Shot, Night, Landscape, Text, Sunset, Dawn, Backlight, Beach & Snow* MAGIC Plus: Panorama, 3D Photo, Magic Frame, Split Shot, Self Shot, Artistic Brush, HDR, CMM* Panorama: Live Panoram / 3D Panorama / Action Panorama* Wi-Fi: MobileLink, Remote Viewfinder, Social Sharing, email, SkyDrive, Auto Backup, TV Link* Drive: Single, Continuous (8fps, 5fps, 3fps), BKT(WB, AE), Precapture* Self timer: Off, 2 seconds, 10 seconds, Double (10 seconds, 2 seconds)

Image Play

Single image, Thumbnails, Advanced Slide Show, Movie Clip, Smart Album, Creative Movie Maker

Date Imprinting

Date&Time, Date, Off (user selectable)

Movie Clip

Recording	* Smart Movie: Landscape, Blue Sky, Natural Green, Sunset* Movie Size: 1920 x 1080 (30fps), 1280 x 720 (30fps), 640 x 480 (30fps), WEB (QVGA, 30fps, 30s)* High Speed: 480fps (176 x 128), 240fps (384 x 288)* 18x optical zoom (Max. recording time: 20 minutes)* Audio: Mute, Normal, Sound Alive, Audio Zoom* Dual Capture (Movie 1280p@30pfs & Still 10Mpixels)
Effect	*Smart Filter: Palette Effect 1, Palette Effect 2, Palette Effect 3, Palette Effect 4, Miniature, Vignetting, Sketch, Fish Eye, Classic, Retro
Edit	Pause during recording and playing, Still Image Capture, Time Trimming

Storage

Media	Internal memory: N/A External Memory: SDSC (up to 2GB guaranteed), SDHC (up to 32GB guaranteed), SDXC (up to 64GB guaranteed)
File format	* Still Image: JPEG (DCF), EXIF 2.21, DPOF 1.1, PictBridge 1.0* Movie Clip: MP4 (Video: MPEG4, AVC / H.264, Audio: AAC)
Image Size	16M: 4608 x 3456, 14MP: 4608 x 3072 12M W: 4608 x 2592, 10M: 3648 x 2736 8M (1 : 1): 2832 x 2832 5M: 2592 x 1944, 3M: 1984 x 1488 2MW: 1920 x 1080, 1M: 1024 x 768

Interface

Digital Output Connector	USB 2.0
Audio	Microphone: StereoInternal Speaker: Mono
Video Output	AV: NTSC, PAL (User selectable)
DC Power Input	4.2V TBD

Power

Power Source	type	Rechargeable battery : SLB-10AConnector Type : micro USB (5 pin)

Physical Specifications

Dimension	Dimension (WxHxD)	109.6 x 61.9 x 24.9 (35.1) mm
Weight	226g (without battery and memory card media)
Operating Temperature	0 ~ 40°C
Operating Humidity	5 ~ 85%

S/W and PC OS

Bundle PC S/W	Intelli-studio, Creative Movie Maker, Auto Backup, Map download manager(Download from On-line with iLinker)
Compatible OS	Windows XP SP2 / Vista / 7

System Requirement in General

For Macintosh	ntel Mac or later Mac OS 10.4 or higher Minimum 256MB RAM 110MB of available hard-disk space USB port CD-ROM drive
For Windows	PC with processor better than Intel Core 2 Duo 1.66 GHz / AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core 2.2 GHz or higherMinimum 512MB RAM (Over 1GB recommended) Windows XP SP2 / Vista / 7250MB of available hard-disk space (Over 1GB recommend) USB 2.0 port CD-ROM drive nVIDIA Geforce 7600GT or later / Ati X1600 series or later1024×768 pixels, 16-bit colour display compatible monitor (1280x1024, 32-bit colour display recommended) Microsoft DirectX 9.0c or later

Wireless

Wireless	MobileLink, Remote Viewfinder, Social Sharing, email, SkyDrive, Auto Backup, TV Link