dSLR

With the debut of theNikon D90, a third and mysterious L firmware module appeared below the A and B readouts on the camera. Until now, no one has really known what it was for.

Estimable former CNET freelancer and prolific book author David Busch took the time to solve the mystery and share the results in his blog: it's for the updateable lens database. Not the most thrilling news in and of itself, but interesting when you consider that it can also hold lens-specific distance information, which can theoretically improve performance of many of the subsystems, such as … Read more

Stephen Shankland drops by to talk about the specs you should look for when buying a dSLR camera.

Olympus was founded in 1919, which makes this year its 90th birthday. To celebrate this special occasion, the Japanese company is sending its cameras beyond the stratosphere into outer space.

Astronaut Koichi Wakata will take with him to the International Space Station the Olympus E-3 dSLR, with its 11-22mm F2.8-3.5 lens, ED 50-200mm F2.8-3.5 SWD telephoto optics, and peripherals such as a battery grip. Wakata will snap pictures of Earth from Kibo, a Japanese experimental module built within the ISS. As a new facility is being built near it, the view of Earth will soon be … Read more

Last December, Pentax unveiled the stormtrooper white K2000 dSLR. The company is following up with a camera that adheres to military guidelines--the olive green K-m.

The specifications remain similar at 10.2-megapixel resolution, a 5-point autofocus system, 3.5 frames-per-second burst mode, and a 2.7-inch LCD on the rear. All that's missing to make this dSLR a rugged commando are shockproof and waterproof features.

Rambo wannabes will also be glad to know that this iteration of the K-m will ship with an 18-55mm olive green lens, too.

According to tech blog Akihabara News, the camouflage-colored Pentax dSLR will … Read more

Eventually, it'll become old hat, but for now, the addition of video capture to dSLRs still merits some oohing and aahing. Especially as it comes down to the less expensive models--you know, the ones within reach of the rest of us. So let us buzz eagerly about Canon's latest consumer dSLR, the EOS Rebel T1i, which becomes the cheapest dSLR thus far to support video capture.

Slipping neatly into the company's dSLR product line between the XSi and 40D, the T1i pushes the XTi off the edge of the bed into discontinuity. When it ships in May, it will occupy the popular $800 price segment: $799.99 for the body and $899.99 for the kit with the veteran f3.5-5.6 18-55mm IS lens. … Read more

With PMA 2009 coming next week, there's a chance Pentax may announce a new follow-up to last year's 14.6-megapixel CMOS flagship K20D. At the very least the company's getting a little preshow coverage thanks to a $200 price cut.

Starting immediately, the Pentax K20D body only is $799.95. Paired with the DA 18-55mm II lens it's $879.95 or with the DA 16-45mm lens it's $1199.95.

We liked the K20D overall in spite of some color accuracy issues. It was a good-bang-for-your-buck camera at its original price, so this price drop only … Read more

Thanks to a campaign of print BIG teaser ads (which may not even have been about this camera, but sparked the hunt for info) and a premature posting on Nikon's Web site, in addition to the usual Web rumormongerings, the Nikon D3x will probably go down as the worst kept digital camera launch secret of 2008. So it's not surprising that readers of the European Nikon Pro magazine were treated this morning to a premature disclosure about the Nikon D3X.

According to the page scans posted on Nikon Rumors (from Seb Rogers blog), the D3X has a 24.… Read more

A new update expands the range of cameras supported by a program that can ease the pains photography buffs often have when viewing images stored in hard-to-decode raw image formats.

Michael Tapes released Instant JPEG from Raw 1.1 on Wednesday, a month after the IJFR debut. The software extends file-browser software to show thumbnail views of raw images, doing so by extracting the JPEG that's typically stored within the raw image.

Photo enthusiasts and pros like raw files for their flexibility, but because each camera has its own format, handling them can be a pain. IJFR extends Mac … Read more

We've seen prototypes under glass and been hearing rumors for months, but Sony's Alpha DSLR-A900 became official September 9 at 9 a.m. ET. The A900's main claim to fame is its 24-megapixel full-frame (the size of a 35mm frame of film) sensor, the highest resolution in a digital SLR to date.

Sony makes a point of not calling this a "professional" camera, instead referring to it as the "flagship" model of its dSLR line. However, it's priced like a pro model, and its competitors--the Nikon D700 and the we-expect-soon-to-be-replaced Canon EOS 5D--are widely used by professionals. We've had one for a few days and have had a chance to run it through our lab tests and shoot with it long enough to develop some preliminary opinions. … Read more