All Digital SLRs Feeds

Sony A350

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On the face of it, this new Digital SLR from Sony is positively groaning with extra features and some very clever functions.

But just like a bargain car that comes with electric windows, alloy wheels, CD player and air-conditioning, those extras don't necessarily make it enjoyable to use or even good value.

A camera is so much more than mere specifications; if it feels clumsy and cheap to use, then it won't be a pleasure to own. And it's this 'pile-'em-high' trap that the company is in danger of falling into with the Sony A350.

Appealing price from Sony

Compared with its nearest competitor - the Pentax K20D - the A350 seems like a bit of a bargain at almost half the price.

However, where the Pentax is an extremely well-built camera with large quantities of metal and excellent environmental seals from dust and moisture, the A350 is more of a low-budget, plastic-feeling affair.

The switchgear and quality of the materials just don't match what the Pentax has to offer, although when it comes to sheer number of features and functions, the A350 can hold its own.

A multitude of features

For starters there's a new breed of Live View and a tilting 2.7-inch LCD screen. The A350's Live View boasts an autofocus speed that's every bit as fast and snappy as when it's not in Live View mode.

The secret to this innovation is a secondary sensor in the pentamirror that's used to feed the Live View image to the A350's screen. It's for this reason that the colours look slightly 'off' in Live View and why the live image only shows 90% of what the camera is recording. Still, the ultra-fast Live View autofocus is so quick you'll soon forgive the slightly dodgy live image and framing.

Moving on to the image sensor, the A350 has a 14.2MP CCD chip that also incorporates Sony's Super SteadyShot image stabilisation technology. This means that any Sony Alpha-mount or Konica Minolta A-bayonet lens will benefit from image stabilisation.

The technology works well and enables up to 2.5 to 3.5 extra steps of exposure without blur. The sensor also has a special anti-static, indium-tin coating and a sensor shift dust-busting mechanism to keep the sensor free of dust.

The image processing is carried out by Sony's oddly named Bionz processor and includes a very effective D-Range Optimiser function. This handy setting boosts shadow details without burning out an image's highlights.

Nikon pioneered a similar system, called D-Lighting, which is much the same. Once you've used this setting you'll wonder how you managed without it. It's perfect for high-contrast conditions, such as keeping the detail in skies while bringing out more detail in the shadow areas of an image.

Confusing to handle

At the rear there are switches all over. The Power switch is an unpleasant slider on the left that feels like it should be on the right, near the shutter button for those 'decisive moment' shots.

There are four buttons beneath the On switch for playback controls. To the right of the screen is a rather cheap-feeling navipad and a function button that offers quick access to flash mode, metering, focus, AF area, white balance and the D-Range Optimiser settings.

It's not quite as fast as using dedicated buttons, but it works well enough. Above the navipad sits an EV compensation button, AEL lock and a frame expansion button. Beneath the navipad is another sliding switch to turn the image stabilisation on and off.

On the A350's top plate is a large exposure mode dial, a sliding Live View switch, a drive button and an ISO selector. In total, there are nearly 20 switches, knobs, dials and sliders, which can make you wish you were an octopus in order to keep on top of this feature-laden beast.

Overall, though, the usability of the camera is a bit confusing and it takes a while to get used to the layout.

Tilt without swivel

Finally, at the back of the A350 is a 2.7-inch LCD screen that tilts upwards and 20-degrees downwards for when you're using Live View. It's not as good as a proper tilt-and-swivel screen but it's handy for candid or low-level shots.

The anti-glare coating of the screen does seem prone to smearing and clouding whenever a smidgen of nose grease gets deposited on it. Above the screen is the slightly dim optical viewfinder; its dark and pokey nature may be to do with the incorporation of the Live View sensor.

Two small detectors located under the viewfinder can sense when you're looking through the viewfinder and will then wake things up and turn the autofocus system on. It's nice but you can turn it off if you don't want to use it.

In use, the A350's shutter sounds a bit tinny and suffers from a slight recoil. The mirror needs more damping to make it sound more expensive and little less like a cheap car door shutting. Thankfully, the shutter noise can't detract from the quality of the A350's images, which are extremely good.

Poor lens performance

Okay, so maybe there's a tendency for the A350 to underexpose by up to half a stop, and the auto white balance can, occasionally, veer slightly towards yellow, but in terms of image resolution it's an extremely good performer.

The ISO noise levels are very low and the amount of sharpening applied to JPEGs is on the conservative side, which is fine as you can always add your own sharpening during post processing.

However, we do have one major complaint with the A350, and that's the performance of the 18-70mmm Sony kit lens. It simply isn't good enough for the sensor it's working with.

The cheap-feeling lens is no match for Sony's excellent 14.2MP chip and you'd be well advised to shell out some extra cash for one of Sony's superb Carl Zeiss zooms.

However, If you do choose to do that, then the good value offered by the A350 begins to melt away as the cost starts to creep up or even exceed the far-better-built Pentax K20D - so it might be an idea to think very carefully before you go down that route.

A clumsy Digital SLR

With the A350, Sony has managed to produce a camera that's relatively inexpensive and yet capable of producing some truly excellent quality images.

However, the downsides are the rather clumsy controls and a cheap level of build quality with low-grade plastic, which means it feels, well... a little bit cheap.

But if you can find it within yourself to live with the plasticky body, the flapping shutter noise and the slightly cack-handed controls, then you're likely to be rewarded with a camera that, in the right hands, can shoot some great images.

Sony A200

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The Sony A200 is the least expensive model in the company's digital SLR range, and replaces the A100, Sony's first digital SLR.

The A100 was, in fact, a development of Konica Minolta's Dynax 5D, which Sony bought up when Konica Minolta decided to exit the SLR market.

And while the A200 is now a further generation removed, there are still echoes of the Dynax in the design and handling.

Inside Sony's latest Digital SLR

The most obvious example is the power switch, which is still at the back of the camera and the top left, and which still prompts an odd cacophony of mechanical shunting noises that seems to accompany the power-up process.

This mechanical noise is no doubt connected with Sony's anti-dust and anti-shake (Super SteadyShot) hardware. This uses a CCD-shift system to counter camera shake at slow shutter speeds, as opposed to the lens-based stabilisation favoured by Canon and Nikon.

This system has been enhanced in the A200, and Sony now claims that it offers a 2.5 to 3.5 shutter speed advantage.

Where you might expect to see camera shake appearing at, say, 1/30 (depending on the focal length you're shooting at), you should now be able to shoot safely at 1/8 or even 1/4 of a second.

Systems like these aren't foolproof, but the Sony's does seem to work very well.

Minor improvements

Like the A100, the A200 features a 10-megapixel CCD and at first sight the differences between this camera and its predecessor look fairly minor. It's more of an evolutionary development than a big step forward.

Sony says that improved noise reduction has allowed a new maximum ISO of 3200, and the battery performance is impressive for an 'amateur' SLR at 750 shots.

The A200 normally ships with the Sony 18-70mm kit lens used on the A100. This offers a good focal range but pretty poor performance, with a drop in definition towards the edges of the frame and some fairly strong chromatic aberration.

However, we tested the A200 with Sony's more expensive 16-80mm Zeiss-badged optic.

Bulky camera

The A200 is a bit bulky compared with the likes of Nikon's new D60 and the diminutive Olympus E-410. The body panels are plastic, as you'd rightly expect at this price level, and they do create a slightly cheap feel.

The grip on the right of the camera is only tall enough for about three normal-width fingers, and it does leave your fingernails scraping the lens flange.

The main controls are easy enough to get to, but they're all in different places, which means it'll take a little longer to learn where they're positioned. For example, the ISO is adjusted using a button on the top plate, as is the drive mode.

On the back is a button for EV compensation. But the other controls are split between the menus and an Fn button on the back.

This calls up this model's new Camera Function Display, a grid of six buttons for accessing the flash mode, metering mode, AF mode, AF area, white balance and dynamic range optimiser.

Strange control layout

To change the image size or quality, though you have to press the Menu button, as you do if you want to swap between the camera's different Creative Styles, which include Standard, Vivid, Portrait, Landscape, Night, Sunset, B/W and Adobe RGB.

Why have these controls spread across three different locations - buttons on the camera, the function screen and the menus?

This, combined with the slightly plasticky feel and the rather awkward body shape, leaves the A200 feeling unpolished compared to its rivals.

On the plus side, the LCD screen is good, and the data display is very clear. It does tend to get swamped a little in bright light, however.

There's not much wrong with the Sony's picture quality. Definition is good, though not exceptional - it might be possible to squeeze out just a little more sharpness by shooting RAW files and processing them with the bundled Image Data Converter application.

Vibrant pictures

The colour is very good, and the Vivid mode produces strong, saturated but realistic-looking hues. The multi-segment metering favours darker areas in some scenes a little too heavily, and this can lead to badly 'blown' skies.

Switching to centre-weighted metering will sort this out though, since this cruder system is more readily influenced by highlights, which often works better.

The high ISO/noise performance is disappointing. At ISO 400, quality is very good, but at ISO 800 there's a noticeable deterioration, with reduced sharpness and more noise.

The quality becomes fairly objectionable by ISO 1600, and at ISO 3200 it has deteriorated to the point where you wonder if Sony was wise to include this setting.

Images are soft, with a coarse, 'blotchy' noise that's visible even when the picture is scaled to fit a computer screen. It's not helped by the camera's noise reduction system, which produces a strong smudging effect.

Having seen the difference between the Nikon D300 and Sony Alpha 700 at high ISOs (and these cameras share the same sensor design), it appears as if high ISO performance is one of Sony's weaker areas at the moment.

Great value from Sony?

So how does it rate compared to other entry-level SLRs? The A200 appears pretty good value. £450 for a new 10-megapixel DSLR with anti-shake and anti-dust isn't to be sneezed at.

But that price includes the distinctly inferior 18-70mm kit lens, and if you want the kind of quality this camera's capable of achieving, you need a more expensive lens - and that will pitch the A200 against some much tougher competition.

Overall, the A200 is a good camera, but one that's spoilt by too many rough edges. The standard lens isn't good enough, the control layout's not quite straightforward enough, and the finish isn't quite elegant enough.

It's the sort of camera you might buy on price, but it's not necessarily the sort of camera you could fall in love with.

Pentax K20D

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On the surface, the Pentax K20D is not unlike the K10D. Under the skin, though, it's very different.

The biggest change is the swap to a 14.6-megapixel CMOS sensor. It's clear by now that you don't get a lot more definition with these higher pixel counts, but every little helps and it does mean that fine detail is resolved with a little more subtlety.

A sophisticated SLR

High pixel counts are often associated with higher noise, but this doesn't appear to trouble Pentax because the K20D goes right up to a maximum ISO of 6400.

It should be ideal for fans of low-light photography, then, and all the more so with Pentax's improved Shake Reduction (SR) system, which claims it can shoot at shutter speeds four stops slower before risking camera shake.

This system moves the sensor to counter camera movement, where Canon and Nikon systems put the stabilisation mechanism in the lenses. The advantage of the Pentax system is that it can be used with any current lens.

It's sophisticated, too - the sensor is moved with magnets rather than motors, and in three dimensions rather than two. The camera even uses focal length data from the lens to fine-tune its reactions.

Nifty dust removal function

Other noteworthy features include a basic Live View mode, pixel mapping (to identify and blot out any dead pixels), a dynamic range enlargement feature to cut down on blown highlights and a Dust Alert function to check for sensor dust.

This works very well. To activate the function, just point the camera at a white surface and press the shutter release. The camera then displays a white field with any dust spots clearly delineated.

If you find any (we did) you can activate the camera's dust removal process (we did) and then check to see if the dust has gone (it had). It's a simple and obvious system that works well.

The resolution and the advanced features make this camera ideal for keen enthusiasts looking to step up from a simpler, 'starter' SLR. Indeed, the K20D is part of an expandable, professionally-orientated system.

There's an optional battery grip and the ability to swap focusing screens to better suit particular styles and types of photography.

Hefty camera

This is all very impressive, but the K20D is far from perfect in real-world use. It inherits the solid, hefty construction of the K10D, but also some of its somewhat irritating minor controls.

One of these is the 'Fn' button on the back, which is used to access the drive mode, ISO, white balance and flash mode. On a camera of this type, these really ought to have their own buttons on the body.

Experienced photographers don't want to have to fiddle around with on-screen interfaces between shots. The other is the light and tacky-feeling navipad, which also manages to have a rather vague and indecisive action.

It's amazing how a detail as small as this can undermine your opinion of the camera as a whole.

The menus stick to the old Pentax style, too - they do look basic and dated compared to the interfaces on rival cameras. This is a serious, powerful photographic tool, but the menus look as if they belong to a simple snapper.

Poor Lens

And then there's the 18-55mm kit lens. It has its good points - a focusing ring with a distance scale, a metal mount - but its performance is pretty weak, particularly at the edges of the frame, where the sharpness falls away and quite high levels of chromatic aberration begin to appear.

These details are disappointing because, basically, this is a really good camera.

The viewfinder is big, there are two control wheels not one (ideal when you're adjusting shutter speed and aperture independently) and the larger-than-average body means that you can really get a proper grip on it.

Not only that, and notwithstanding the indifferent kit lens, the image quality is really good.

Live View mode

It's worth taking a closer look at the Live View mode, too, even though it's not as sophisticated as others. No, you can't change or even view the exposure settings, but it's easy to activate and it can help you frame shots in awkward positions.

In fact, though, it's only one of three Preview options, which can be selected via the Setup menu. The extra position on the power switch which activates the Live View can also be set to produce a 'digital preview', or a traditional depth of field preview in the viewfinder.

Strong pictures

It's a mistake to imagine image quality is all about pixel-by-pixel resolution or even lens performance. There are much broader tonal and colour differences between brands that defy proper measurement but which are apparent nonetheless.

Nikon cameras produce images with a different 'character' to Canon cameras, for example, and the K20D (like previous Pentaxes) has a character all its own, too.

It really does come quite close to the 'look' of a traditional transparency film. Not the oversaturated colours of Velvia, maybe, but Kodachrome 64, perhaps, or E6 slide films in general.

What this means to photographers raised on digital rather than film is that the Pentax's images show strong, natural-looking colours, dense but well-separated darker tones and good midtone contrast.

Keep detail in your photos

It has another trick up its sleeve, too - its expanded dynamic range option.

This can be applied when changing the ISO. It restricts the ISO range to 200-3200, but it doubles the dynamic range of the images captured.

This means that you can shoot on an overcast day and still keep sky detail without having to deliberately underexpose. Or shoot a reflective white subject like a vase without having to switch to RAW and fiddle about on the computer to recover those brilliant, subtle highlights.

We've seen 'highlight' modes before, but this one really works. This is one of the factors that helps give the K20D's images that 'film-like' look.

Excellent image quality

You might get sharper detail from a Nikon D300 (for example), and there are plenty of DSLRs with better kit lenses than this one. But the K20D's image quality, judged overall ('holistically', shall we say?) is excellent.

Commercial photographers might not be impressed, but those keen on subtler pictorial qualities will be excited.

The K20D is a great camera packed with great technologies that really work. The only thing keeping it from a higher score are its controls and interface design. If the K20D's innards were in an EOS 40D body, it would be irresistible.

Canon EOS 450D

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In recent months, Canon has dominated the D-SLR market with the 400D, its super-successful entry-level camera. Some time after launch, newcomers are still snapping that model up for its superb image quality, ease of use and bargain price.

Last summer, Canon also launched the high-end 40D, and many keen amateurs made the leap up to this semi-professional, yet still highly affordable, model.

Capitalising on that success, Canon has now upgraded the 400D to the 450D. It’s matured like a fine wine and is all the better for it, boasting an impressive array of features, many of which are borrowed from the 40D.

Big LCD screen

The body itself has evolved little from its predecessor; it’s still pretty compact and weighs in at only 475g. However, on handling it you’ll notice it’s now got a chunkier, rubberised handgrip, which provides better stability. You’re also faced with a whopping great big 3-inch LCD screen (the same as the 40D). Not only can you review your photos with greater ease, you can also compose your shots from tricky angles, thanks to the addition of Live View.

Click the dedicated switch and in an instant you can compose your shot on the LCD screen, as with many standard compact digital cameras. A revamped colour-coded menu system and a fresher feel to the display both complement the bigger screen.

Cosmetics aside, Canon has made some substantial changes to the inner workings of the 450D. Most notably, there is a boost in the number of megapixels, with the 450D packing in 12.2MP compared to the 10.1MP offered by the 400D and 40D. The increase in megapixels allows for greater enlargements and finer detail when zooming in and cropping.

If you open the memory card slot, you’ll notice that the 450D now takes SD cards, rather than the more traditional CompactFlash. Canon could set a trend here, because the smaller card format frees up space and weight. This is great news if you currently own a compact camera and are looking to buy your first D-SLR, but it’s a bit of a nuisance if you’re upgrading from the 400D, as you’ll have to ditch your current cards.

Super-fast image processing

Another steal from the 40D is the DIGIC III processor, which speeds up image rendering and enables the 450D to shoot 3.5 frames per second in burst mode. It handles up to 53 JPEGs (six RAW) continuously without interruption, which is a huge increase on the 400D’s 27 JPEGs.

And as for perfecting exposure, Canon has included spot metering, which opens up the options for meter reading. The AF system works on the same nine points as the 400D, yet has extra sensitivity at f/2.8, which offers quicker and more accurate focusing. Looking through the viewfinder, you’ll also find the AF points more clearly displayed.

For those looking to purchase their first D-SLR, the 450D is relatively intuitive straight out of the box. Turn the large mode dial to Auto and you can get shooting straight away. There’s also Program AE, Shutter priority AE, Aperture priority AE, Manual, and A-DEP to free up creativity, as well as six custom modes (Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night Portrait and No Flash).

Picture quality is as fantastic, and a small step up from the 400D. Images appear sharp and crisp, colour rendition is spot on and noise levels are remarkably low at ISO 1600, even in poor light conditions, which is a big improvement. The ISO can also be easily changed with a dedicated ISO button. Another feature taken from the 40D is Highlight Tone Priority mode, which helps to prevent highlights from blowing out.

A solid all-rounder

In essence, the 450D is a fusion of the 400D and the 40D and it shares components from each. This shows that Canon is continuing to push for success in the D-SLR market. The 450D is almost-but-not-quite a semi-pro camera, yet amateur photographers are unlikely to be scared off by its technical spec; after all, it harbours the same look as its predecessor.

It really is a fantastic camera for newcomers to the D-SLR market, and also for owners of the 400D who’re looking for an inexpensive alternative to the high-end 40D.

Nikon D60

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The D60 is Nikon's new 10-megapixel entry-level digital SLR.

It takes over from the D40x and, outwardly, it's very similar.

Under the skin, though, there are some significant improvements.

Fun new features from Nikon

For a start, the D60 gets a new dust-removal system, in line with most other digital SLRs on the market. It also has an eye-sensor just below the viewfinder eyepiece, which switches off the LCD when you put it to your eye.

The other news is the arrival of a new VR (Vibration Reduction) version of the 18-55mm kit lens, which we've used for our review.

Otherwise, there's not a lot to report. The body design is 'inherited' from the D40 series and is very small - perhaps too small. The lack of height in the body means your grip isn't as secure as it is with a larger camera, and the buttons on the back do feel a bit cramped.

For beginners

The D60 is designed for novices and for those who want to develop their photographic skills. For beginners, the interface is both clear and attractive, but for more experienced users it may prove irritating. First, you need to press an 'info' button to make the screen display interactive, and then use the navigational controller to highlight the option you want to change.

Once this is selected, you then use the navigational buttons again to scroll up and down a list of options. It's all very clearly laid out, but it's not quick.

It does seem a bit of a waste of the camera's Command dial. Couldn't this be used for changing the options in these menus? It would certainly save some time and mean less of this tedious button pressing.

LCD screen improvements

There's no secondary LCD on the D60, so the main screen on the rear is used for changing all the settings and status information. This was a bit of a nuisance on the D40 and D40x because the LCD stayed illuminated when you put the camera to your eye, only going out when you half-pressed the shutter release.

Nikon has fixed this now by placing a sensor below the viewfinder eyepiece so that the display disappears the moment you put the camera to your eye. The information display rotates when you turn the camera to take vertical shots, too, which is a nice touch.

The D60's body might be small, but the 18-55mm kit lens is fairly long, leading to a slightly unbalanced feel overall. It's hardly a major point, but it does mean the D60/lens combination is noticeably longer than the Canon EOS 400D and the Olympus E-410 especially.

Cheap Digital SLR

There are now two kit lens choices for this camera. The old-style non-VR Nikkor 18-55mm kit zoom is the cheapest option, with a list price of £500, but for just £30 more you can get a D60 with Nikon's new 18-55mm VR (Vibration Reduction) lens.

Nikon's VR works very well indeed, and this is a really good deal. It feels a well-made lens, too, given the price. The zoom and focusing actions are good for a budget lens, though the front element does rotate during focusing, so it's not so good if you use a polarising filter.

The picture quality is really very good. The D60 can shoot RAW files as well as JPEGs, but while you can get a slightly higher dynamic range out of the RAW files, there's very little difference in sharpness.

As long as you get the exposure right, the JPEGs are perfectly good enough. You can shoot RAW files and JPEGs simultaneously, but only with Basic quality JPEGs. This is rather disappointing, and it makes this feature much less useful than it could have been.

Image adjustments

There are a number of options for adjusting the image colour and contrast, and this could be confusing for some users.

You can choose one of the scene modes on the mode dial, or set the colour to one of a number of styles, including Standard, Softer, Vivid, Vivid+ and Black and White.

The scene modes are best for those who want the camera to choose the settings, while the manual adjustments will suit photographers who want to use the more hands-on PASM modes and choose to change the colour settings themselves.

RAW conversion

But the D60 goes further. In Playback mode it's possible to carry out basic in-camera image optimisation and enhancement.

What's more, if you shoot RAW files you can process these in-camera too, changing some of the camera settings and generating a second, JPEG version of the image.

Alternatively, you can process JPEGs on your computer using the supplied View NX image browser. This only offers a handful of RAW conversion options, but it's still useful.

Lighting effects

The Active D-Lighting system is interesting. This is another enhancement over the D40x, although it's already appeared on the D300 and D3. Nikon's D-Lighting system lightens dense shadow detail without affecting the midtones and highlights.

Previously, it was simply a software fix applied after the image was taken. Active D-Lighting, though, adjusts the exposure to make sure the image retains bright highlight detail, and then applies the shadow-lightening process.

Sometimes it works very well, holding good detail both in the shadows and the highlights in high-contrast scenes. Sometimes, however, the shadow 'masking' is visible as a sort of soft-edged 'glow' around the darker areas.

Limited appeal

This is typical of this kind of shadow adjustment and not a fault with the Nikon system. Sometimes it's useful and sometimes it's not.

The D60 scores highly for its picture quality and the range of options available for customising photographs, both as they're taken and once they've been saved. But while the control interface is easy, routine adjustments take a little too long.

It's great if you're a beginner, but the D60's appeal may wane as you learn and want to work faster.

Nikon D300

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The Nikon D200 was a truly great camera that offered professional performance at an enthusiast's price. Even now, its 10-megapixel CCD sensor can easily hold its own compared with similarly-priced rivals, and the robust build quality was - and still is - out of this world.

But Nikon clearly thought that it could do even better. And the result of its thinking is the brand-new D300, a camera that looks outwardly like the D200 but which includes a number of highly significant technical advances and real improvements when it comes to image processing.

The most notable of these improvement is the new 12.3-megapixel CMOS sensor which is remarkably 'similar' to the Exmor model used in the new Sony Alpha A700. Of course, adding two million extra pixels isn't going to make much difference to the image quality, but this isn't just a reheated version of the old sensor.

Nikon's swapped from CCD to CMOS technology with a brand-new and advanced sensor design that delivers more than just a few extra pixels. There's the increased ISO range, for a start. This runs from ISO 200-3200, with 'extended' settings of ISO 100 and ISO 6400 for extreme lighting conditions.

The maximum frame rate is up slightly from 5fps to 6fps, and the D300 can keep this up for around 100 JPEGs or 20 RAW files. The 51-point AF system is also new, as is the stunning 920,000-dot 3-inch LCD display, which is identical to the one on the Alpha 700.

Live View

And then there's the Live View mode (two modes, in fact), a feat once thought impossible with a digital SLR but now becoming commonplace, first on Olympus E-series cameras, then appearing on Canon SLRs and now showing up here. It's not like using a compact camera, though. With the D300, there's so much shunting of mirrors and flapping of shutters that you can easily lose track of whether the camera's taken a picture or if it's just focusing.

Live View modes also raise the spectre of dust - a perennial problem with digital SLRs anyway. But if the mirror's going to be up and the shutter open for extended periods of time while you compose the shot on the LCD, dust spots become much more likely. The D300 tackles this with a new dust-removal system which, like others, uses vibrations to shake the low-pass filter in front of the sensor.

These improvements aren't minor evolutionary changes, then. The D300 is a genuine advance over the D200 in a number of important areas.

Some things haven't changed - notably the build quality and the control layout. The D200 always seemed a heck of a lot of camera for the money, and so does the D300, though the launch price of £1,300 does seem pretty steep when compared with what the outgoing D200 was selling for (well under £900 by the end of its life).

That's a premium of £500! It's a heavy but incredibly solid-feeling camera, and all the dials, knobs and buttons feel firm and tough too. The only let-down here is the navipad, which feels much too vague and has a smooth finish that your thumb can too easily slide off.

In the hand

With around two dozen controls on the top and back of the camera, there's an awful lot going on and quite a lot to learn if you've not used this type of camera before. Here, the D300 contrasts heavily with Canon's design for its EOS range of SLRs, which seem far less fussy but manage to do all the same things. However, Nikon fans will love the D300 because everything is placed where they expect to find it - newcomers may find it a little complicated though. This is clearly one of those areas, though, where personal preference will play a big part in the buying decision.

The other point worth making is that this is a professional camera. It may not be as big as a Canon 1Ds or a Nikon D2x, but it's a serious step up, both in terms of size and weight, from an 'amateur' SLR. Compared to, say, an Olympus E-410 or a Nikon D40x, it's not that much fun to carry around all day.

And then there's the choice of lens. A camera of this calibre demands the very best quality optics that you can afford. Our review unit was supplied with a Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8, a DX lens which only really comes into its own when matched up to a top-quality camera.

But this is a £900 lens! What's the alternative? Perhaps a Nikon 18-70mm, or 18-135mm? Both these 'amateur' lenses might be acceptable for a D40x or a D80, but they hardly seem a fitting match for the D300. (Nikon's 18-200mm VR could be a good choice, though).

Any decent lens to go with this camera will bump up the price and the weight will go up still further. The combination we tested will set you back over £2,000.

The D300's picture quality is frankly awesome. The superb sharpness may be due in part to the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8, but the quality of the colour rendition must surely be down to the sensor alone. This is borne out by the fact we made the same remarks about the Sony Alpha 700 which we reviewed recently. The colours aren't just saturated and natural looking, they seem to have an extra clarity and purity about them too.

It was interesting to compare the A700 and the D300 side-by-side in an extended ISO test with the same subject. The D300's shots were fractionally sharper that the Sony's, with no visible chromatic aberration, but we could probably attribute that to the lens we were using (the 16-80mm Zeiss lens used in our Sony review isn't quite as good).

At high ISOs, though, the cameras showed different noise-reduction characteristics. The Sony showed markedly higher levels of luminance noise and some loss of detail. The Nikon suppressed noise much more effectively that the Sony and retained sharp detail even at the highest ISOs. At the same time, though, overall saturation was reduced, together with some of the textural detail.

Judged in isolation, the D300's high-ISO performance is extraordinary. Some might prefer the A700's noisier but more textured and characterful images, but surely everyone would agree that these two cameras are now a clear step ahead of the rest of the enthusiast D-SLR pack.

Active processing

The D300 has an interesting Active D-Lighting mode, which supplements Nikon's existing D-Lighting technology. Until now, this D-Lighting system has only been able to be applied to images after they've been shot. D-Lighting lightens the shadow area of an image without changing the midtones and highlights. The Active version adjusts the exposure at the time of shooting to record maximum highlight detail and then applies the D-Lighting algorithm to the image during processing.

The effects are often subtle, but the system does retain some highlight and shadow detail that might have been lost if the subject was shot 'straight'. It's not as much extended dynamic range as, say, the Fuji S5 Pro, but it's an interesting tool in the photographer's armoury for those difficult photographic conditions.

The Nikon D300 is one terrific camera, but it faces a couple of problems which are nothing to do with its design. The problems are more to do with the market that it finds itself in. If Nikon made only DX-format cameras then the D300 would be a must-have model. Fantastic image quality, superb build and all the features you could hope for.

But the full-frame D3 at around £3,000 has well and truly pulled the rug from under the D300. How can you justify spending thousands on DX SLRs and DX lenses when they've become a second-division choice compared with Nikon's FX sensor format?

And for those who don't face this kind of dilemma, who are simply looking to invest in a top-quality APS-C D-SLR, the Sony Alpha 700 virtually matches the D300's specs and it's much cheaper. The Olympus E-3 also competes for the enthusiast's attention. It's these two factors that make it difficult for us to recommend the Nikon D300 unreservedly, however good it is.

Olympus E-3

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Four long years have passed since Olympus launched its first professional digital SLR. During that time there may have been moments when some Olympus fans doubted there would ever be a successor to the much-loved E-1.

Now the wait is finally over with the launch of the E-3. And it's causing quite a stir, thanks to a big dose of innovation and a rather bold claim to be the world's fastest autofocusing SLR.

From the moment you pick up the E-3, you feel like you're holding a thoroughly well-built piece of kit. The ergonomics are superb and despite being a fairly bulky camera it feels good in the hand. The build quality is excellent and everything from the switchgear, to the seals that keep out dust and water, are just right.

Our first experience with the E-3 was during a torrential downpour at the camera's launch. Thankfully, not one of the 40 review models being tested broke down. That, in itself, is proof enough that Olympus has made a camera that can properly withstand the stresses and strains of a professional use. This is a photojournalist's camera: tough yet light enough to perform in harsh conditions for both camera and photographer.

Small-scale sensor

At the heart of the E-3 is a new Four-Thirds Panasonic 10MP NMOS image sensor. A Four-Thirds sensor is quite a bit smaller than the APS-C sensors found in most other D-SLRs and yet the E-3's high ISO performance looks very good indeed.

Okay, it might not be able to match the very best in APS-C sensors, but even at ISO 3200 the chroma noise is very low. And let's not forget that there are some advantages in using a Four-Thirds camera when it comes to weight and lens design. The range of Zuiko lenses for Olympus D-SLRs is second to none in terms of optical results and build quality.

But perhaps the proudest boast for Olympus is the speed of the E-3's all new 11-point biaxial auto-focus system. When used in conjunction with the brand-new Olympus Zuiko 12-60mm SWC lens, it's said to be the world's fastest AF system. There's no doubt about it - the speed and accuracy are thoroughly impressive. What's more, the silence and precision of the new ranger of Olympus SWC lenses is superb.

But it isn't just the autofocus that's had a bit of a boost. The E-3's shooting speed now trots along at a respectable five frames per second, and that speed can be sustained for up to 19 RAW files or an unlimited number of JPEGS - and unlimited means until the memory card is full up.

There's a choice of using either Compact Flash or xD-Picture cards, and the architecture of the camera enables some very swift write speeds thanks to the UDMA file structure used.

Standing out

So, it's a 10MP SLR, with a waterproof body and an extremely fast autofocus system. But is that enough to make the E-3 stand out from the crowd? Probably not... but the twist-and-swivel 2.5-inch LCD could be the deal breaker.

It may sound like a bit of a gimmick but that flexible screen gets you thinking about shooting from a variety of different angles without worrying about how to achieve them. It also means that when you use the E-3's Live View mode, almost any platform or surface can be turned into a tripod or rest. Overhead shots become simple and low-level floor shots are possible without the need to crawl on your belly to get them.

Also built into the E-3 is a CCD-based image-stabilisation mechanism that offers sharp hand-held shots down to 1/8th of a second... and it really works. The sensor also has the Olympus Super Sonic Wave anti-dust mechanism. The Olympus dust-busting system seems to be one of the most effective on the market and it's reassuring to have that on board too.

The all round performance of the E-3 is excellent. Olympus has managed to tame the noise of the smaller sensor and it's also addressed autofocus performance and continuous shooting rates. There's the twisty screen, image stabilisation and anti-dust system, but is there anything else to differentiate the E-3 from other pro SLRs on the market?

Easy to use

The first thing you notice is how great the E-3 feels to use. The build quality inspires confidence and the shutter response is sharp. The huge viewfinder addresses the past grievances and the autofocus is as fast as you need. And when it comes to exposure the E3 is spot on thanks to the ESP metering system.

However, even with all those features there's still something else that the E-3 brings to the party. The first thing is the film-like quality of E-3 images. It's hard to put it into words, but even when there's noise in an image, it's nice noise... like film-grain.

The second point is that the colour is stunning. Colours straight from the camera have a Kodachrome quality that most other DSLRs fail to capture. Shots leap out at you. The experience is close to the colours that Fujifilm has been producing with its SLRs for a few years now.

It's nice to see another camera manufacturer realising that the texture and colour of an image is as important as the numbers on the spec sheet - perhaps even more so. Buying and using a camera is about more than comparing numbers. How a camera feels and the atmosphere of the images it produces count for so much more than sterile laboratory tests.

During our review period we spent many happy hours shooting with the E-3 in all kinds of conditions and weather - from the lowest light levels to driving rain. And at all times the E-3 was a real pleasure to use and great fun to handle.

It may not tempt dyed-in-the-wool Nikon or Canon users to desert their chosen systems and lenses, but for anyone who wants to trade up to a more professional camera system, or for existing Olympus E-1 owners who really need to replace their trusty camera bodies, the E-3 offers an awful lot for its fairly modest £1,099 price tag.

When used with the sublime Zuiko 12-60mm f/2.8-4 SWC zoom lens, the Olympus E-3 makes for a compelling photographic tool that we simply couldn't help falling in love with.

Nikon D3

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Here's an interesting fact to mull over. The Canon EOS 1Ds Mk III will sell for £6,000, body only. For that, you can get a D3 body, one of the brand-new Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 N-series lenses and Nikon's fabulous 14-24mm N-series wide-angle zoom. Remember, the D3 is a full-frame SLR, so that 14mm zoom is so wide you'll be lucky to keep your ears out of the picture.

Both of these are professional lenses with the build and optical quality that goes with it. We were fortunate enough to get to try out the D3 and these two lenses for this review, and the combination is truly awesome.

The 1Ds Mk III has 21 million pixels. The D3 has 12 million pixels, which is not as many but still a lot. Some clients may demand 21-megapixel files, but how many? You have to weigh this against the D3's far lower cost (£2,500 lower) and certain other capabilities that the Canon doesn't have.

These include the fact that the 1Ds Mk III can shoot at 5fps, while the D3 shoots at 9fps. The 1Ds Mk III goes from ISO 100-1600, but the D3 goes from ISO 200-6400 (yes, 6400). Stuck with a bunch of APS-C format lenses from lesser cameras in the range?

If you've got a 1Ds Mk III, tough luck - you can't use Canon's EF-S lenses on this model. If you've got a D3, though, and you slot on one of your old DX lenses, the camera spots it straight away and switches automatically to a 'cropped' mode to give you 5-megapixel photos. It's not much, but it's a lot better than nothing, and handy for making long telephotos even longer, thanks to the 1.5x focal factor.

This is not an attempt to trash the 1Ds Mk III, but it's important to understand just what Nikon has achieved with with its new professional flagship camera. The Canon wins on resolution, and it's a no-brainer if you've already invested heavily in Canon gear. But what Nikon has produced is a camera good enough for West End fashion shoots and frantic goal-mouth action at 3pm on a sleet-soaked January afternoon.

Handling and controls

One of the things you're paying for with a professional camera is build quality, and the D3 doesn't disappoint. We've remarked on the new D300's cast-iron feel, and this camera is just the same. The finish, the fit of the panels, the feel of the controls - they're all first rate.

On the rear, you get the same 920,000-pixel LCD that appears on the D300, so the quality of the display is excellent. Below this is a 'tertiary' panel (there's a secondary panel on the top), which displays ISO, quality and white balance settings, with buttons underneath for changing them - the white balance icons are too small, though, and not so easy to see in bad light.

Memory cards slide in via a door in the back of a camera, which has a double-catch mechanism to prevent you opening it accidentally. Inside are two CF card slots - see the camera annotation for a description of how these work together.

The battery slides into the base of the camera, and according to the manual, the battery's good for 4,300 shots between charges. The camera comes with a dual charger so that you can top up your spare at the same time.

Despite its size, this is an easy camera to carry. The extra height means that you can get all your fingers round the grip, and even with one of Nikon's exotic new N-series lenses fitted, it's still wieldy. In typical Nikon style, the controls are arranged for ergonomic efficiency rather than instant recognition, but if you've just come straight from a D200 or D2x, you'll have no trouble. It would've been nice, though, if the different Picture Controls (Standard, Vivid and so on) had been easier to get at, as they're buried in the menus.

There were a couple of other minor operational issues too. Sometime during the test period the sound went off - presumably the wrong button was pressed or a menu setting was overlooked, but we never did find out how to get it back. And twice during lens changing the Focus Mode switch, which is right by the lens release button, was knocked from Single Shot to Continuous.

The effect of this is that the AF squares in the viewfinder don't light any more and the camera will shoot before focus has been achieved - you could spend a long time rooting through the manual before discovering the real explanation. While we're at it, it's worth mentioning the Active D-Lighting option. D-Lighting is Nikon's software technology for lightening shadows in shots that have already been taken.

In Active D-Lighting mode, the camera adjusts the exposure to capture highlight detail, and then applies the D-Lighting adjustment. It works quite well, too, but why bury this in the menus? It takes too long to get to for such a potentially useful tool, and yet it's not something you'd want to leave on continuously, either.

Image quality

Petty gripes aside, the D3 handles really, really well. It's surprisingly quiet for a full-frame camera when shooting at 9fps, too. But it's the image quality that really stands out. Interestingly, in side-by-side tests the D3 proves little sharper than the D300 at low ISOs, suggesting that the resolution is limited by the pixel count and that - hopefully - future, higher-resolution versions will come along which are better still.

But at higher ISOs, the D3 has a very clear advantage. Compared with its rivals, the D300 is exceptional at ISO 1600. The D3, though, just blows it away. In fact, at ISO 6400, the D3 is producing similar image quality to the D300 at ISO 1600. Truly remarkable.

Indeed, the D3 gives you more of everything that's so admirable in the D300. More colour, less noise, faster frame rates. It's a spectacularly good camera. So good, in fact, that we have to repeat our only caveat about the D300.

Good as the cheaper model is, we suspect you're always going to be wondering whether the D3 wouldn't have been the better professional buy.

Sony Alpha A700

tech.co.uk staff — 1195689600

Sony is serious about its SLRs. The A100 was a fair effort, with a resemblance to the Dynax 5D Sony inherited from its takeover of Konica Minolta, but the A700 is a whole new camera. Where the A100 is a budget model for novices, the A700 is targeted at enthusiasts and even professionals too. It offers a combination of durability, speed, resolution and high ISO speeds.

At the heart of the A700 is a 12.2MP Exmor CMOS sensor designed for the best possible performance, with on-chip noise reduction both before and after the analogue/digital conversion. More noise reduction is then applied by Sony's BIONZ processor.

This BIONZ processor is clearly a fast performer as the A700 can shoot JPEGs at 5fps until the memory card is full up. It can also shoot up to 19 RAW file without even a hiccup.

It's not just the processor that controls the maximum continuous shooting speed - the shutter and mirror have to be able to keep up too. The A700's new shutter/mirror assembly has that short 'clack' sound characteristic of high-speed cameras, and Sony says the shutter should last in excess of 100,000 shots.

Bigger and better

From the outside, the differences between the A700 and the A100 are clear. The A700 is substantially larger and heavier. The reinforced aluminium chassis is finished off with magnesium alloy body panels.

And the switchgear has silicon seals to resist the entry of dust and moisture. The controls are different, as well. Like other 'serious' SLRs, the A700 has two control wheels rather than one, and the new menu system is reckoned to make routine adjustments much easier.

That's open to debate - menus are menus, and there's nothing particularly special about these - but the A700 does have an alternative control method. Pressing the Fn button on the back makes the LCD information display interactive, so that you can scroll around and highlight the settings you want to change. It's both intuitive and quick.

The A700 doesn't have a secondary status LCD display on its top plate, unlike the Canon EOS 40D, but it doesn't really need it. It's as easy to use the 3-inch LCD on the rear, and it doesn't seem to have much impact on battery life because Sony claims an excellent 650 shots on a full charge.

This 3-inch LCD deserves a special mention. It's not the first 3-inch LCD on an SLR, but it's the sharpest, with an amazing 921,000 dots. Not only is it sharp, it gives an excellent indication of what your shots will actually look like. You can double-check exposures using the histogram display, which show individual RGB histograms and overall luminance.

You'll be impressed, then, even before you take any shots. But what are the results like? Do they live up to the promise of the hardware?

At ISO 100-200, there's no significant noise at all. At ISO 200-400 it's starting to appear in darker areas, but the overall levels are very low. At ISO 800 noise is more apparent, but even at ISO 1600 it's not strong. So yes, the Sony does have a noise advantage over its rivals.

Picture quality is still quite good at ISO 3200 (better still after the v2 firmware update) and although it's starting to disintegrate at ISO 6400 (in 'extended' ISO mode), the colours and contrast are still strong.

It's impressive, but is the A700's high-ISO performance really as miraculous as it seems? There's always some pay back with noise reduction systems, usually a discernible 'watercolour' effect where finer textural detail gets smudged.

This is visible in the Sony's pictures, though it's not really objectionable even at higher ISOs. But while we were checking this, another issue became apparent. Our camera seemed weak at reproducing fine-textured detail. Hard outlines were fine, but grass or distant vegetation was soft, appearing filled in at times.

To make sure, we tested the A700 against another SLR with the same subject and this confirmed the Sony had a serious failing in this respect. Surely we weren't the only reviewers to check this?

Sony was clearly aware of this issue because a Version 2 firmware update was arrived on 30th October, which addresses it directly. We tested the A700 with two different subjects at all ISOs both before and after the update, and it makes a considerable difference.

With the v1 firmware, the textural rendition is soft and unacceptable, while with the v2 firmware crispens things up considerably. Sony describes the change as 'subtle', but we think it makes the difference between a camera that's disappointing and one that's extremely good.

Image quality

With the textural rendition sorted, it's possible to enjoy fully the Sony's image quality, and the A700's most striking characteristic is its rich, saturated and natural-looking colour. Its tonal rendition is extremely good, particularly in the highlights - bright values don't seem to accelerate off the end of the scale as readily as they do with other SLRs.

The 'Dynamic Range Optimiser' option is interesting, too, especially when used in Bracketing mode. Here, you take one shot, and the camera saves differently-processed versions for you to choose from later. The effects can be subtle or strong, depending on the lighting, though no better than those you might get using the Shadow/Highlight tool in Photoshop.

Sony's done a great job with the A700. It feels like a solid, professional camera, and the overall colour rendition, high-ISO image quality and 5fps are terrific. If you do buy one, do check the firmware in case early production models are still in the supply chain. Updating the firmware is only a five-minute job.

Incidentally, avoid the 18-70mm kit lens if you can. Its performance is weak at the edges of the frame and it suffers from chromatic aberration too. Go for the more expensive 16-105mm zoom if you can afford it.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10

tech.co.uk staff — 1195516800

Breaking into the fiercely competitive SLR market takes nerves of steel and deep pockets. It's something both Sony and Panasonic are attempting to do, but to improve their odds, each has drawn on the experience of an existing player.

While Sony took over the intellectual property of Konica Minolta's SLR division, Panasonic linked up with Olympus and Leica in order to develop its SLR range.

The first fruit of this unusual union was the Lumix DMC-L1 - an overpriced and overweight SLR with a cracking Leica Vario D-Elmarit lens, and boasting Panasonic's Mega-OIS image stabilisation at its heart.

Sadly, the optics were too pricey to make the camera affordable and the clunky analogue feel wasn't to everyone's taste, although older photographers liked the conventional manual speed dial and aperture ring.

Now Panasonic has decided to take a second bite at the cherry by altering its design philosophy. The new design is being marketed at owners of compact or bridge cameras who'd like to trade up to an SLR without losing ease of use or the convenience of being able to compose shots on screen.

The result is the DMC-L10 - a camera that's been built to a price but which still offers a lot of innovation. Gone is the solid metal body of the L1 and the 14-50mm f/2.8-3.5 lens.

The new camera has a cheaper-feeling kit lens with the same zoom range, but a slower f/3.8-5.6 maximum aperture. There's no focus scale on the new lens either, but it does still have Panasonic's Mega-OIS image stabilising technology built in as standard.

Standout feature

The L10's standout feature is its 2.5-inch, twist-and-swivel LCD screen, which can be used in conjunction with the Live View function to offer photographers the ability to take overhead or low-angle shots without having to crawl on their bellies.

Mind you, that's just as well, as the L10's viewfinder is about as pokey as a Shih Tzu's kennel and needs the optional magnifying eyecup that Panasonic wisely includes. Occasionally you'll need to manually focus, as the three-point AF system isn't the world's fastest and the points are closely spaced.

Fortunately, the Live View feature has a 10x magnification for accurate manual focusing. There's also a hybrid auto-focus for when you're working in Live View mode.

While the L10's conventional SLR focus relies on the usual phase differential method, in Live View the L10 switches to contrast detection, which means that it can offer face-detection technology. It's a clever system and an industry first, but it's a bit sluggish and hardly ideal for action shots.

Surprisingly for a camera of this price, the L10 doesn't have a separate LCD status screen to show things like ISO setting and exposure. This means that everything must be set using either the on-screen menus or the plethora of short-cut buttons that litter the camera's compact but slightly plastic body.

The settings are easy to use, although the lack of a dedicated EV compensation button is confusing at first - until you discover the rear thumbwheel is the compensation control.

In addition to the regular P, A, S, M exposure settings and a number of special Scene modes, the L10 also has a series of selectable Film modes.

The description of the modes varies from Vibrant, Nostalgic and Smooth, through to black and white versions of the same modes. The effect is only actioned when you're shooting in JPEG mode, but as there's the option to shoot JPEG and RAW together, it's an interesting feature that a lot of people moving up from point-and-shoot cameras will probably appreciate and enjoy using.

Venus mars

The L10's sensor is one of Panasonic's own 10MP LiveMOS designs. It's similar to the one fitted in the Olympus E-510. However, when it comes to image processing, Panasonic has used its own Venus III chip to handle things and it could be this that's to blame for a slight softness in shots at higher ISO settings.

That's not to say that the image quality from the L10 is poor - certainly not - but this is a camera that doesn't have a lot of latitude, and it does appear to blow highlights easily and cut in with noise reduction a little too early.

The colours can also be a little oversaturated and high in contrast. It's possible to bypass these side effects by shooting in RAW or altering the settings on the Film mode, but that's not really what beginners expect.

Balancing act

Our one other gripe lies with the auto white balance function. When it works, it works well, but it's difficult to produce accurate colour under some tungsten lights. Even when switching to one of the manual presets or the custom function, a sickly yellow pall continued to hang over some of our test shots.

No doubt it's something that can be easily cured with a firmware update, but it's a little disconcerting on a camera with this sort of price tag and Panasonic's normally impeccable performance when it comes to white balance.

The Lumix DMC-L10 will probably appeal to more people than its rather eccentric and expensive predecessor. It's certainly easy to use and comes packed with features.

The twist-and-swivel screen with its Live View function can radically change your approach to composition, plus it gives you the opportunity to take low-level shots without embarrassing yourself. Perhaps one day all SLRs will have such a feature, but for now it's Panasonic and Olympus that are leading the way.

The price and the four-thirds mount may put off many of the compact and bridge camera users that Panasonic hopes to attract with the L10. Only time will tell.