Lets look on new compact mirrorless camera Sony Alpha A5000 with APS-C sensor ( 3:2 ratio ) with 20.1 MP resolution, Sony E bayonet for interchangeable lenses, new BIONZ X graphical processor and optical image stabilization with lenses, that support it. It can make photos with 5456 x 3632 pixels maximal resolution, saving them in JPEG ( DCF ver. 2.0, Exif Ver.2.3, MPF Baseline ), RAW ( Sony ARW 2.3 ) and RAW+JPEG formats; supported video recording modes are Full HD 1920 x 1080 60/24, 1440 x 1080 30 and VGA 640 x 480 30 with saving in AVCHD 2.0 or MP4 ( with H.264 image encoding ) formats and stereo sound recording ( in AAC LC, AC3 or Dolby Digital 2ch formats ) via built-in microphones. ISO sensitivity levels are in 100 – 16000 range; camera has built-in flash and has no built-in viewfinder, its 3″ LCD screen can be tilted and has 460.8 K dots resolution, it has no touch functions.
Photo camera Sony Alpha A5000 ( top view )
Sony Alpha A5000 saves photos and videos on Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo, Memory Stick XC-HG Duo, SD, SDHC and SDXC ( UHS-I ) flash memory cards; it supports wireless Wi-Fi and NFC connections for remote data transfers and control. It supports automatic and manual focus, diaphragm and exposure control and can be used for astronomical photos making via T-mount adapter. Following connectors are built into it : Micro USB for connection to computer ( with battery charhing ability ) and HDMI Micro Type D, it has no Hot Shoe connector; one charge of its Li-ion battery NP-FW50 W enough for approximately 420 photos, camera can be powered via AC-PW20 adapter. Its sizes are 109.6 ( width ) x 62.8 ( height ) x 35.7 ( depth ) mm and mass is 210 g; operating conditions are the same, as other cameras have : temperatures in 0 – 40 degrees on Celsius range and relative air humidity levels in 30 – 90 % range.
Photo camera Sony Alpha A5000 ( rear view )
Package contains : Sony Alpha A5000 camera itself, Micro USB cable, Li-ion battery NP-FW50, recharger AC-UB10, bayonet cap, shoulder strap, warranty card and user’s guide; there are kits with included lenses and their caps. Camera is great, giving high-quality photos and videos, its price corresponds to its functions.
Lets review new Android 5.1 smartphone ZTE Nubia Z9 Max with 5.5″ multitouch IPS Full HD 1920 x 1080 display with 401 pixels per inch density and tough Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and 8 cores processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM8939 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 MSM8994, depending on modification. It is equipped with 2 or 3 GB of RAM, Adreno 405 or Adreno 430 graphical chip, 16 GB of built in memory with ability to extend via MicroSD flash memory cards with 128 GB max capacity and 2 Nano SIM cards slots. Smartphone can work in 2G, 3G and 4G networks; GLONASS, GPS and A-GPS navigation tools are built into it; among sensors there are electronic compass, gyroscope and light and proximity sensors.
Smartphone ZTE Nubia Z9 Max ( side view )
In ZTE Nubia Z9 Max 2 cameras are built in : frontal one with 8 MP optical sensor resolution and f/2.2 lens aperture and main one with 16 MP resolution, f/2.0 aperture, flash and autofocusing and ability to record 4K video with 3840 x 2160 pixels resolution. It supports Wi-Fi ( IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac ), Bluetooth ( 4.0 ) and NFC wireless connections for data transmitting and communication with other devices; among connectors there are Micro USB port ( with OTG support for other devices connection ) for connection with computer and Li-ion battery charging and 1/8″ mini-jack out for headset. AKM AK4375 audio chip and AW8736 amplifier are built into smartphone, this should give good quality of music and sounds playback, but there is need to test it to see level of noises and quality of overall audio tract of device. Its Li-ion battery is built into smartphone ( it cannot be replaced without contacting service center or warranty void ) with 2900 mAh capacity. Device sizes are 154.8 ( height ) x 76.6 ( width ) x 7.9 ( depth ) mm and mass is 165 g.
Package contains : ZTE Nubia Z9 Max smartphone itself, USB cable, recharger, warranty card and user’s guide. All in all smartphone is good, especially 4K video, 8 cores processor and high quality audio components impress; from its minuses only built-in battery can be noted; price of device is adequate to its characteristics. This is from one side; from the other : smartphone cameras will not give high quality photos and videos due to small optical sensors and miniature lenses used, so is there sense to spend additional money on them? It is better to buy device with similar characteristics without bias into photo and video functions and buy separate photo camera with interchangeable lenses, which is far superior, than smartphone in this respect.
Lets look on one of the newest compact mirrorless cameras Olympus PEN E-PL6 with 16.1 MP 4/3″ Live MOS sensor, graphical processor TruePic VI ( they are the same as top level Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera has ), Micro Four Thirds mount for interchangeable lenses and 3-axis image stabilization via sensor-shifting. Camera has one of the smallest prices among such devices and in value/price ratio respect is on one of the first places. It makes photos with 4608 x 3456 pixels maximal resolution and saves them in JPEG, RAW ( 12 bits per channel precision and lossless compression ), RAW+JPEG and MPO formats; supported video recording modes are Full HD 1920 x 1080 30p, HD 1280 x 720 30p and SD 640 x 480 30fps with saving in MOV ( with MPEG-4 AVC or H.264 image encoding ) or AVI ( Motion JPEG ) formats and stereo or mono Wave Linear PCM 16 bits and 48 kHz sound recording via built-in or external microphones. Used color spaces are sRGB and Adobe RGB, ISO sensitivity levels are in 200 – 25600 range; it has no built-in flash and viewfinder, but there is ability to attach external ones, 3″ touch display can be tilted and has 460 K dots resolution.
Photo camera Olympus PEN E-PL6 ( top view )
Olympus PEN E-PL6 supports manual and automatic focus, diaphragm and exposure settings and can be used for astronomical photos making with use of T-mount adapter. It saves photos and videos on SD, SDHC and SDXC ( UHS-I ) flash memory cards with Flash Air and Eye-Fi support; it has no built-in wireless connections support. Following connectors are placed on it : combined USB 2.0/AV output/for remote control, HDMI Micro Type-D, Hot Shoe and Accessory Port 2; one charge of its Li-ion battery BLS-5 is enough for approximately 360 photos making. Camera sizes are 110.5 ( width ) x 63.7 ( height ) x 38.2 ( depth ) mm and mass is 279 g ( only camera without lens, memory card and battery ); its body is made from metal, frontal grip can be unscrewed, if needed; work conditions are : temperature in 0 – 40 degrees on Celsius range and relative air humidity levels in 30 – 90 % diapason.
Photo camera Olympus PEN E-PL6 ( back view )
Package contains : Olympus PEN E-PL6 camera itself, external flash FL-LM1, Li-ion battery BLS-5, recharger BCS-5, USB cable, AV cable, shoulder strap, CD-ROM disk with OLYMPUS Viewer 2 software, frontal removable grip MCG-4, warranty card and user’s guide. This is a great camera, giving high-quality photos and videos and having technologies of top level Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera, it differs not much from Olympus PEN E-PL5 camera, so, when choice is between these cameras, then there is need to look on their prices.
Photo camera Olympus PEN E-PL6 ( right side view )
Lets devote today’s audio part to detailed testing and review of external sound card ESI UGM 96 in DAWREAPER. And start with external view on card, its frontal panel has : 2 TRS ( 1/4″ jack ) inputs ( one of them is instrumental Hi-Z, second one can be switched between instrumental and linear/microphone modes, also there is ability to switch +20 dB signal amplification for it ); and right input work mode switches. Card records only mono signal by both inputs. Its back panel has 2 TRS ( 1/4″ jack ) outputs, working in linear mode and as headphones outputs, they duplicate each other and both output stereo signal; and USB port, for connection with computer and powering from it, it does not require additional power adapter input. There is no ability to plug phantom power +48 V to microphone input and card outputs and records only unbalanced signal. Body of audio interface, including frontal and rear panel, is made from aluminum; analogue connectors are nickel-plated, there are gold-plated rings on the outer sides of connectors, but they are not connected with PCB and do not conduct signal, all connectors are inside and they are nickel-plated; so, there is need to use the same plugs.
Sound card ESI UGM 96 ( rear panel )
Card works with sampling rates up to 96 kHz and 24 bits per sample precision. According to technical specifications, it has following characteristics : Hi-Z inputs ( THD+N 0,003 %, impedance 500 kOhms ), input with +20 dB amplification ( THD+N 0,003 %, impedance 2.2 kOhms ), analogue to digital converter ( dynamic range 105 dB, S/( N + D ) ratio -98 dB, channels separation 90 dB ); linear/headphones outputs ( THD+N 0,003 %, maximal output power 100 mW and 32 – 600 Ohms impedance ), digital to analogue converter ( dynamic range 103 dB, S/( N + D ) ratio -90 dB, channels separation 100 dB ); power consumption 0.85 W, current draw 500 mA maximum. It is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 and Mac OS X 10.4 and newer operating systems, in the first ones it uses dedicated drivers with ASIO 2.0, MME, WDM and DirectSound interfaces support, in the second one it works via native OS drivers with CoreAudio interface support. Via these interfaces it works with modern DAWs ( Avid Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase, FL Studio, Cackewalk Sonar, REAPER and others ) and sound recording and editing programs. Package contains : ESI UGM 96 sound card itself, shielded transparent USB cable, CD-ROM disk with drivers and plugins ( among which are specialized guitar compressor and effects processor and VST instruments and effects ), DVD disk with DAWCubase LE 5 software and user’s guide. PCB photos from both sides are at the bottom of article.
Testing of ESI UGM96 sound card in DAW REAPER
Lets move on to ESI UGM 96 testing in DAWREAPER; I tested it recording signal from inputs without plugged connectors, this way I recorded only inputs noise; and connecting card’s outputs to inputs with ground and foil shielded studio microphone stereo cable with 0.5 m length and nickel-plated TRS connectors. Testing results of right input without Hi-Z mode and +20 dB amplification switching are as following : noise level without plugged connector -90.4 dB, with plugged in main linear/headphones output -87.4 dB, with duplicating headphones output -87.8 dB, recorded level of 0 dB signal ( 1 kHz sinusoidal wave ) for main output -1.2 dB, for duplicating -2,5 dB. Left Hi-Z instrumental input ( only noise without connector ) -90.6 dB; right input in Hi-Z mode ( only noise without connector ) -89.7 dB; right input in Hi-Z mode and with +20 dB amplification : -85.8 dB. Right input in linear mode with switched on +20 dB preamplification : only noise -87.8 dB, plugged in main output without signal -67.9 dB, plugged in duplicating output -68.2 dB. Wherein there is ability to raise volume level of recorded signal on +12 dB in interface’s control panel, making so noise level of inputs goes up to -75.9 – -77.7 dB from -90 dB, while signal level raises up from -1.2 – -2.5 dB to 0 dB. So, it is better not to use this function and record signal on usual volume level and, if needed raise its level in DAW ( this way at least signal and noise volume levels will raise on the same dB amount ) or with use of external digital or analogue amplifier ( this way signal level will raise, but noise level of cards inputs will remain the same, amplifier just needs to be good ).
Control panel of ESI UGM96 audio interface
Now the most interesting : channels penetration measuring, for this I played the same 1 kHz sinusoidal wave with 0 dB volume only in 1 channel, which cards inputs do not record, and looked on recorded signal level for channel on which this signal should not be transmitted. In result for main output channel penetrated in the other one with -17.8 dB volume, and for duplicating one with -17.3 dB volume. In technical details it is specified, that DAC has 100 dB channels separation : either analogue part of card is much weaker, than DAC in this respect, or after years of use card started to leak signals so much, but fact is the fact : signal penetrates so much, that it is audible via headphones laying on the table.
Sound card ESI UGM 96 ( PCB 1 )
Conclusions about testing of USB audio interface ESI UGM 96 in DAW REAPER
Noise levels of card’s inputs and outputs are relatively low, it is better to not use software card’s input volume raising ( it is better to do this via DAW instruments during recording or after it or via external amplifier; however built in +20 dB microphone preamplifier of card is quite good and can be safely used ) and card has very high channels penetration, also, it records only mono signal. So, ESI UGM96 is more suitable exactly for mono instrumental Hi-Z or microphone inputs recording in small studio and it is not very well suited for analogue signal mixing and transmitting and for high-quality music playback ( due to high channels penetration ). Wherein it has quite low price and in value/price ratio respect is much better, than usual embeddable into computer case sound cards of Sound Blaster Audigy level, due to use of high quality digital chips and analogue components and external placement; also it can be used for recording of additional high quality audio channel in nature and on live performances. So, for its purposes card is good and worth invested money; but, if more functional and universal audio interface is needed, then it is better to buy one of Steinberg, Behringer, Focusrite, Roland, ESI itself, M-Audio, Alesis and other manufacturers production.
Sound card ESI UGM 96 ( PCB 2 )
Update of ESI UGM 96 testing in DAW REAPER from 16.5.10
Resolded microphone cable from stereo into mono and made measures with it : this way channels penetration for headphones output is a -51.6 dB and for linear output is -51 dB – this way it is much better, than with stereo cable. Here are two assumptions : either electro-magnetic interference in stereo cable with common ground is so strong, that in channel without signal it appears with such strength; or microphone input partly records signal from second channel of input too. If business is in EMI, then it is useful to use for headphones and speakers cables with channels shielding by their own separate grounds, if possible, with foil; if business is in partial reading of second channel by microphone input, then here is no need to do anything, because most microphones mostly record mono sound.
Steinberg Cubase LE – is a simplified version of more professional DAW of this company, it allows to record, play, edit and mix audio and MIDI signals on 16 audio tracks, 24 MIDI tracks, 8 instruments and 8 physicsl inputs with precision up to 192 kHz and 24 bits. In it HALion Sonic SE instrument is included and set of 18 effects, among which there are modulation, delay, equalizer and others. In package with ESI UGM 96 there are following VST instruments and effects : ESI Piano ( program synthesizer of piano with ability to control Susatin, Resonance and built-in reverberation ); ESI Compressor, Chorus, Phaser and Flanger ( according effects ); LUXONIX LFX1310 ( set of many effects ); as well as other fully functional and demonstration effects.
Company ESI was founded in Germany in 2006 year, mainly it produces audio interfaces, loudspeakers and other sound equipment. Its products are notable for high quality and acceptable prices, currently offices and facilities of company are located in a couple of countries of the world.
Found at last White Stone, rode to it through “Friendship” collective garden; only city area is rideable on the bicycle in this direction, further on the way there is need to lead it on the side or carry on the shoulder. Snowmobile and quad bike tracks lead to the West : somewhere through the forest, somewhere on the snowy roads; on the way I passed through Gremiha river, it is 2 – 2.5 m wide near the road, but to the side in around 100 m there is icy bridge, through which I walked with the bike on the other bank and to the technics tracks again. Walking on them I came to wide glade for high voltage electric line, walked on it in the North-West direction to the crossing with Gremiha river again and East-West glade and moved through it to the White Stone : it leads directly to the mountain roots. In some places there are unfrozen puddles and small pools.
White Stone rocks
On the way I first met 2 skiers, they told to me that ski track leads to the White Stone directly from ski base, near which I exercise myself, and another 4 skiers after them, snowmobiles pave tracks through the snowdrifts and skiers move on them, so I walked not through the waist deep snowdrifts, but on the easily walkable small road. It has small uphill tilt, that is similar to the way to Shunuth, whereas Berezovaya mountain has steep and short slope. Mountain is visible from the distance through the glade, near its roots large rock at once meet : they have around 20 m height on the Eastern side. I lifted bicycle higher, took my camera and walked to make photos and videos; on the uphill on the White Stone after high rocks in front higher rocks appear after them and there is need to walk attentively, because slope is steep and rocks are covered with ice and snow. To the South there is ability to see Berezovaya mountain, this day it was in the mist and only its silhouette was visible; somewhere there through the mist Shunuth stays in the West …
White Stone rocks
Rocky ridge of White Stone is quite narrow, but there is ability to walk, basing on the rocks and trees; there is even small stony arc, it seems, that it was formed due to erosion. After it there is ability to walk even further and higher on the ridge, but it is too narrow in that place, without rocks and trees for basement and with rocky slopes to the sides; so, I’ll walk there after snow melting on the dry stones. On the mountain I was for around 1 hour, this day quite strong wind blew from the south, it is not noticeable in the forest, but on the mountain even in -1 degrees on Celsius temperature hands freeze very fast. Admiring this view and big rocks, I descended to the bicycle, put my camera in the pocket and moved in the way back to home.
White Stone rocks
On the returning way I went on the ski tracks in the direction of ski base to see where tracks start; quite fast it became dark, so, first I walked in the dusk, seeing tracks for 3 – 5 m ahead, then it became completely dark and I moved by feel. On the way there are unfrozen puddles, skiers move through them without problems, but I with bicycle had to find basement points by touch, to not to go shin deep in the water : this day I did not drenched my boots and walked and rode to home with comfort. On the ski track I came to the road, it lead to the west to the light, track lead further to the north, so I walked on the road and came out of the forest approximately in the same place, in which I walked into it : on the hill with communication towers. On the way I met young lady, playing with the dog : there is ability to imagine what she thought seeing a man with bicycle in the darkness, walking from the forest in the snowdrifts. Then road to home, home businesses and going to sleep. Wish December and January frosts to pass faster; meet you in the next bicycle adventures!
White Stone rocksWhite Stone rocksBerezovaya mountain in the mistWhite Stone rocksView through the arc of White StoneWhite Stone rocky peaksWhite Stone rocksRocksShunuth is there through the mist …View from mountain
Lets review compact external USB sound card Behringer U-PHONO UFO202, which is able to record and play stereo signal and styled as cassette player on 90ties. It works with sampling rates up to 48 kHz and 16 bits precision ( sampling rate is more or less acceptable, but 16 bits is not enough for high quality nature sounds recording, capturing signal from analogue sources and voice and music recording in studio ). On top side it has : inputs work mode switch; grounding connector; 2 RCA inputs and 2 RCA outputs with gold-plated connectors. On front side it has USB connection indicator, to the left panel USB cable itself is mounted; bottom side has : 1/8″ mini-jack output for headphones and volume control.
Behringer U-PHONO UFO202 can work in Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 and Mac OS X operating systems, but has no specialized drivers with support of ASIO 2.0 and CoreAudio interfaces, however there is ability to download and install ASIO4ALL drivers for it with simulation of such interface. So, it is not very well suited for work with DAWs. After purchase there is ability to download from manufacturer’s site DAWTracktion and large amount of VST plugins and sounds samples packs. Package contains : Behringer U-PHONO UFO202 sound card itself, 3-year warranty card and user’s guide. Card has following pluses : ability to record and play stereo sound, headphones output and adequate price for its functions. But, if there is need to buy sound card for professional work with sound, then it is better to buy device with 24 bits precision and native support of ASIO 2.0 and Core Audio, so that there’ll be ability to use device for wide spectrum of tasks. So, it is better not to buy this sound card and acquire more functional audio interface.
Lets meet with novelty : smartphone Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 with Android 5.1 OS, 4G networks support, 5.5″ multitouch IPS LCD screen with Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution and 400 PPI density, which costs 210 USD ( for smartphones with such functions this is one of the smallest prices ). It has : 8-cores 2 GHz MTK Helio X10 Octa-core 64-bit processor, 3 or 2 GB of RAM ( depending on modification ), Power VR G6200 graphical processor, 16 – 32 GB of built-in RAM ( part of it is used by OS and preinstalled applications ), there is no ability to use flash memory cards and there is no automatic saving of files on remote cloud-servers of manufacturer, as some other phones have. It can work in 2G, 3G and 4G networks; has 2 SIM cards, GLONASS, GPS, AGPS and BDS ( BeiDou Navigation Satellite System ) navigation tools and following sensors : gyroscope, proximity, lighting and gravity.
Смартфон Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 ( side view )
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has 2 cameras : 5 MP frontal one and 13 MP main one with LED flash, autofocusing and lens with 5 glasses and f/2.2 aperture. It supports wireless Wi-Fi ( 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac ) and Bluetooth ( 4.0 ) connections for data transferring and communication with other devices; following connectors are built into it USB 2.0 for connection to computer and Li-ion battery charging ( maybe external devices can be connected via it ) and 1/8″ mini-jack connector for headset plugging in. From other functions support of FM radio ( with headset ) and finger prints scanner can be noted; smartphone sizes are 152 ( height ) x 76 ( width ) x 8.65 ( depth ) mm and mass is 160 g; its body is made from metal and it is shipped in 3 color variants : silver, gray and gold.
Package contains : Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 phone itself, USB cable, Li-ion battery with 4000 mAh capacity, recharger, warranty card and user’s guide. Smartphone is very functional and costs adequate amount of money for devices with such capabilities, wherein there is need to look on materials and production quality. From easily discoverable minuces, lack of flash memory cards slot can be noted. There is also Xiaomi Yi action camera, which is much better, than many other higher-priced devices; it seems, that they have the same manufacturer and, if Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has the same quality, then it will be able to make tough competition to other higher-priced and branded devices.
Lets review compact mirrorless photo camera Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF6 with 16 MP 4/3″ Live MOS sensor, new Venus Engine graphical processor, 1040 K dots tilting touch LCD screen and Micro Four Thirds mount for interchangeable lenses. Camera can make photos with 4592 x 3448 pixels maximal resolution and saves them in JPEG ( DCF, Exif 2.3 ), RAW and RAW+JPEG formats; supported video recording modes are Full HD 1920 x 1080 60/50, HD 1280 x 720 60/50 and VGA 640 x 480 30/25 with saving in MP4 format with MPEG-4 AVCHD image encoding and AAC stereo sound recording via built-in microphones. Color spaces are sRGB and Adobe RGB, ISO sensitivity levels are in 160 – 25600 range; it has built-in flash and has no built-in viewfinder; image stabilization is optical ( MEGA O.I.S. ) with lens, that support it.
Photo camera Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF6 ( top view )
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF6 saves photo and video on SD, SDHC and SDXC ( UHS-I ) flash memory cards; it has support of Wi-Fi ( IEEE 802.11b/g/n, NFC ) connections for remote data transferring and control. Camera supports automatic and manual focus, exposure and diaphragm settings and can be used for astronomical photos making via T-mount adapter. It has following connectors : USB 2.0 for data transferring, HDMI Mini Type C and AV output; it has no Hot Shoe connector; there is only one audio driver, which reproduces only mono sound; one charge of Li-ion battery is enough for approximately 330 photos making. Camera sizes are 111.2 ( width ) x 64.8 ( height ) x 38.4 ( depth ) mm and mass is 323 g ( camera, battery and memory card without lens ); its body is made from metal; working temperatures are in 0 – 40 degrees on Celsius range, relative air humidity levels are in 10 – 80 % range.
Photo camera Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF6 ( rear view )
Package contains : Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF6 camera itself, bayonet cap, Li-ion battery, recharger, shoulder strap, USB cable, CD-ROM with PHOTOfunSTUDIO 9.2 AE program, warranty card and user’s guide; there are also kits with included lenses and caps for them. All in all, this is a great camera : it produces high-quality photos and video, has compact sizes and new technologies; from its minuses following can be noted : lack of Hot Shoe connector for external flash, viewfinder and other accessories, small buttons on touch screen and sometimes oversharp JPEG images.
Lets review in optics part compact mirrorless photo-camera Sony Alpha NEX-7 with 24.3 MP Exmor HD CMOS APS-C sensor, BionZ graphical processor and Sony E mount for interchangeable lenses. It saves photos in JPEG, RAW ( with 12 bits per channel precision ) and RAW+JPEG formats and records video in Full HD 1920 x 1080 28/24 and HD 1280 x 720 28/24 modes, saving it in MPEG-4 format with AVCHD or H.264 image encoding and AAC stereo sound, recorded via built-in or external microphones. ISO sensitivity levels are in 100 – 16000 range; camera has built-in flash and OLED viewfinder with 2.4 M dots resolution, its 3″ touch LCD screen can be tilted and has 921.6 K dots resolution; image stabilization is optical with lenses, that support it.
Photo-camera Sony Alpha NEX-7 ( top view )
Sony Alpha NEX-7 supports automatic and manual focus, exposure and diaphragm settings and can be used for astronomical shooting with T-mount adapter. It saves photos and videos on Memory Stick PRO HG-Duo, Memory Stick Pro Duo, SD, SDHC and SDXC ( UHS-I ) flash memory cards; and has following connectors : USB 2.0 for connection with computer, HDMI Mini Type-C, Hot Shoe and 1/8″ mini-jack for external microphone; one charge of Li-ion battery NP-FW50 enough for approximately 400 photos making. Camera sizes are 120 ( width ) x 67 ( height ) x 43 ( depth ) mm and mass is 292 g ( only camera without lens, memory card and battery ); its body is made from metal. Operating conditions are the same, as other cameras have : temperature in 0 – 40 degrees on Celsius range and relative air humidity levels in 30 – 90 % range.
Photo-camera Sony Alpha NEX-7 ( rear view )
Package contains : Sony Alpha NEX-7 camera itself, USB cable, Li-ion battery NP-FW50, BC-VW1 AC recharger, body cap, shoulder strap, clearing cloth, CD-ROM disk with software, 1-year warranty card and user’s guide; there are also kits with included lenses. Camera is very good, it gives high quality photos and video and have compact metal body and APS-C sensor; its minus is very big price ( but it is not overpriced for its functions and technologies ), for which entry-level mirrored camera can be bought.
Smartphone ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE551ML ( white variant )
Lets look on novelty ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE551ML – smartphone with 4 cores Intel Atom Z3580 2.3 GHz processor ( there is modification with Z3560 1.8 GHz processor ); 4 GB of LPDDR3 RAM ( or 2 GB for lower frequency processor ); and PowerVR G6430 graphical engine with OpenGL 3.0 support. It works on Android 5.0 ( Lollipop ) platform, can work in 2G, 3G and 4G networks; it supports 2 SIM cards ( first one works in networks up to 4G, second one only in 2G networks, both of them can work simultaneously ). Touch 5.5″ IPS screen has Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution, 401 pixels per inch density and tough and scratch proof Corning Gorilla Glass 3; GLONASS, GPS, QZSS, SBAS and BDS navigation tools are built into it; from sensors there are : accelerometer, electronic compass, gyroscope and proximity and lighting sensors. 16, 32 or 64 GB of memory are built into smartphone, depending on the modification ( part of it is taken by OS and preinstalled applications ), it can be increased via microSD flash memory cards with size up to 64 GB, with remote storage support on ASUS WebStorage servers with 5 GB of available space ( Microsoft OneDrive analogue ).
Smartphone ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE551ML ( color variants )
ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE551ML has 2 cameras : frontal one with 5 MP resolution, fixed focusing and wide angle of view and 13 MP main one with automatic focusing; both of them support PixelMaster technology. It supports wireless Wi-Fi ( WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac ) and Bluetooth ( V4.0, NFC ) connections; it has following ports : USB for connection with computer ( maybe external devices can be plugged in through it ) and Li-ion battery charging, which has 3000 mAh capacity, and 1/8″ mini-jack connector for headset. Package contains : ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE551ML smartphone itself, USB cable, Li-ion battery, recharger, warranty card and user’s guide. All in all, this is a good smartphone with fast system, modern OS and large screen with high resolution for optimal price; its one minus is the built-in battery, which can be replaced only in service centers or by oneself on one’s own hook with warranty void.
