Today in optics part we will talk about very compact wide angle photo lens Olympus Body Cap Lens 15mm F8 for Micro Four Thirds mounts ( for Panasonic and Olympus cameras ). Its 15 mm focus is fixed ( 30 mm in full-frame equivalent, taking into account sensor crop-factor 2 ), focusing is performed by lever on its body from 0.3 m to infinity; it has no support for automatic focusing and diaphragm settings and lens does not communicate with camera in any way. Diaphragm is fixed at f/8 point; magnification is 0.06x; 3 lens elements in 3 groups are built into it. Olympus Body Cap Lens 15mm F8 sizes are 9 ( length ) x 56 ( diameter ) mm and mass is 22 g. Package contains : Olympus Body Cap Lens 15mm F8 lens itself, rear cap and user’s guide. From one side : it is very compact and has wide field of view; from the other : it has weak image quality ( lots of vignetting ( brightness decrease to frame sides ) and noticeable chromatic aberrations increase to the sides of image ), so, this lens has little practical meaning and is mostly spending money on the wind and it is better to buy wide angle converter lens for existing photo lenses and receive much better image quality and exposure control for the same or even smaller price.
In audio part today we will talk about portable USB audio interface Roland Duo-Capture MK2 for professional stereo sound recording. Frontal panel of sound card has : 1/8″ mini-jack stereo input; TRS ( 1/4″ jack ) stereo input, which can work in microphone and instrumental Hi-Z modes ( phantom power +48 V can not be plugged to it ); TRS ( 1/4″ jack ) stereo output for monitor headphones; and 1/8″ mini-jack linear stereo output. On its top there are sliders for input volume control ( with peak indicator ) and output volume control with USB connection indicator. Its back panel has : USB port, through which it communicates with computer or mobile devices and powers; and buttons for switching Direct Monitor function, Hi-Z mode for TRS input and input signal amplification. It works with sampling rates up to 48 kHz ( for sound recording in wild nature and for vocals and instruments recording, if sound will not be processed intensively, this is enough ) and 24 bits per sample precision.
External sound card Roland Duo-Capture MK2 ( rear view )
Roland Duo-Capture MK2 draws 96 mA current; its sizes are 81 ( width ) x 119 ( depth ) x 31 ( height ) mm and mass is 130 g. For it drivers are released for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 and Mac OS X with ASIO 2.0 and Core Audio interfaces support, through which it tightly integrates with modern DAWs : Avid Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase, FL Studio, Cackewalk Sonar, REAPER and others. Package contains : Roland Duo-Capture MK2 sound card itself, USB cable, optical disks with drivers and software ( DAWCakewalk SONAR X1 LE ), warranty card and user’s guide. All in all, this is a good audio interface, for portable high quality stereo sound recording, which is superior to sound of photo and video cameras, dictaphones, smartphones and other portable devices.
Lets meet with compact mirrorless camera Olympus PEN E-P5, made in retro-style with 4/3″ Live MOS sensor with 16.1 MP effective resolution, Micro Four Thirds mount for interchangeable lenses and TruePic VI graphical processor. Camera can make photos with 4608 x 3456 pixels maximal resolution and save them in JPEG, RAW ( with 12 bits per channel precision and lossless compression ), RAW+JPEG and MPO formats; it records videos in Full HD 1920 x 1080 30p, HD 1280 x 720 30p and SD 640 x 480 30 modes, saving them in MOV ( with MPEG-4 AVC or H.264 image encoding ) or AVI ( Motion JPEG ) formats and recording Wave ( Linear PCM 16 bits and 48 kHz ) stereo sound via built-in or external microphones. Image stabilization is performed via sensor-shifting and neutralizes movements on 5-axes; ISO sensitivity levels are in 100 ‐ 25600 range; color spaces are sRGB and Adobe RGB. Camera has built-in flash, has no built-in viewfinder, its 3″ touch LCD screen can be tilted and has 1.04 M dots resolution.
Photo-camera Olympus PEN E-P5 ( top view )
Olympus PEN E-P5 saves photos and videos on SD, SDHC and SDXC ( UHS-I ) flash memory cards with support of Eye-Fi; it can establish Wi-Fi connection for remote data transfers and control. Camera supports manual and automatic focus, exposure and diaphragm settings, it can be used for astronomical photos and videos making. It has following connectors : combined USB 2.0/AV output/remote control port, HDMI Micro Type D, Hot Shoe and Accessory Port 2; one charge of battery is enough for 330 photos making. Its sizes are 122.3 ( width ) x 68.9 ( height ) x 37.2 ( depth ) mm and mass is 378 g ( only camera without lens, memory card and battery ); its body is made from metal; operating conditions are : temperature in 0 – 40 degrees on Celsius range and relative air humidity levels in 30 – 90 % range.
Photo-camera Olympus PEN E-P5 ( rear view )
Package contains : Olympus PEN E-P5 camera itself, Li-ion battery BLN-1, BCN-1 recharger, USB cable, shoulder strap, CD-ROM disk with OLYMPUS Viewer 3 program, warranty card and user’s guide; there are also kits with included lenses. Camera gives great photos and videos and has professional technologies of Olympus OM-D cameras; its one minus is the price, for which APS-C sensored Sony, Canon and Fujifilm compact cameras can be bought; so, in this case customer should make his or hers own decision : whether to buy professional technologies in compact body or APS-C sensored camera.
Today we will talk about new smartphone HUAWEI Y6, working on Android 5.1 OS and supporting 4G connections. It has 5″ multitouch IPS screen with 1280 x 720 pixels resolution and 294 pixels per inch density, Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 MSM8909 processor ( 4 cores, working on 1100 MHz frequency ), 1 or 2 GB of RAM ( for 1 and 2 SIM cards versions, accordingly ) and 8 GB of built-in memory ( part of it is taken by OS and preinstalled applications ) with ability to extend via flash memory cards with 32 GB maximal capacity. Smartphone supports GSM, WCDMA ( 3G ) and FDD-LTE ( 4G ) networks; GLONASS and GPS navigation tools are built into it; it supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections for remote data transfers and communication with other devices.
Smartphone HUAWEI Y6 ( angle view )
HUAWEI Y6 has 2 cameras : main one with 8 MP resolution and frontal one with 2 MP resolution; USB port for connection to computer, maybe external devices can be connected to it via this port. From sensors there is only accelerometer, battery capacity is 2200 mAh, manufacturer does not tell for what stand-by and talking times this charge is enough. Package contains : HUAWEI Y6 smartphone itself, Li-ion battery, recharger ( with 5 V and 550 A charging current ), USB cable, warranty card and user’s guide. From one side : this is a good functional smartphone, from the other : for smaller price there is ability to buy Microsoft Lumia 550, working under Windows 10 OS, with the same or even better characteristics, so, in this case there is need to base on personal choice of platform ( Windows or Android ) and price difference.
Lets make review of compact mirrorless photo-camera Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF5, which differs only slightly from previous model in this line : GF3. It has 12.1 MP MOS sensor with 4/3″ size, Venuc Engine VII HD graphical processor and optical image stabilization with lenses, which support it, they are attached to camera via Micro Four Thirds mount. Camera makes photos with 4000 x 3000 pixels maximal resolution and saves them in JPEG, RAW, RAW+JPEG and MPO formats; can record videos in Full HD 1920 x 1080 60i, HD 1280 x 720 60i and VGA 640 x 480 30 modes, saving them in MOV ( with AVCHD or MPEG-4 image encoding ) format with AAC stereo sound recording via built-in microphones ( this is a improvement in comparison with GF3, which has only 1 microphone ). ISO sensitivity levels are in 100 – 12800 range, previous model has 6400 maximal level; color spaces are sRGB and Adobe RGB. It has no built-in viewfinder, has built-in flash, 3″ touch LCD screen has 920 K dots resolution ( 2 times more, than the predecessor ).
Photo-camera Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF5 ( top view )
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF5 saves photos and videos on SD, SDHC и SDXC ( UHS-I ) flash memory cards; and does not support wireless connections. Camera supports automatic and manual focus, diaphragm and exposure settings, it can be used for astronomical photos making. Following connectors are placed on it : USB 2.0 for data transferring and Li-ion battery charging, HDMI Mini Type C and AV output; it has no Hot Shoe connector; one charge is enough for 330 photos making : this is a small improvement in comparison with Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3. Camera sizes are 107.7 ( width ) x 66.6 ( height ) x 36.8 ( depth ) mm and mass is 225 g ( only camera without lens, memory card and battery ); it has small panel for better grip on front side, its body is made from metal; operating conditions are : temperature in 0 – 40 degrees on Celsius range and relative air humidity levels in 10 – 80 % range.
Package contains : Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF5 camera itself, USB cable, Li-ion battery, recharger, strap on hand, bayonet cap, 1-year warranty card and user’s guide; there are also kits with included lenses. All in all, this is a good camera, but it has small amount of differences with previous model, so, when one of them is being chosen, there is need to look on price.
Today we will talk about compact mirrorless camera Sony Alpha NEX 6, equipped with electronic viewfinder, built-in flash and CMOS APS-C sensor with 16 MP effective resolution. Interchangeable lenses are attached to camera via Sony E mount, manufacturer does not tell what type of image stabilization is used, but, probably, it is optical or performed via sensor shifting ( unlikely, that camera of such level would use digital stabilization ); manufacturer also does not disclose information about used graphical processor, but, most probable, it belongs to BionZ family. Camera can make photos with 4912 x 3264 pixels maximal resolution and save them in JPEG, RAW and RAW+JPEG formats; it records video in Full HD 1920 x 1080 60/24, 1440 x 1080 30 and VGA 640 x 480 30 modes, saving it in MPEG-4 ( with AVCHD or H.264 image encoding ) format with stereo-sound recording via built-in microphones. Wherein ISO levels are in 100 – 25600 range, it has built in flash and viewfinder; Sony removed touch function from screen in this model, and left tilting, 3″ size and 921 K dots resolution.
Photo-camera Sony Alpha NEX 6 ( top view )
Camera saves photos and videos on Memory Stick Pro Duo, Memory Stick PRO HG-Duo, SD, SDHC and SDXC ( UHS-I ) flash memory cards; it has Wi-Fi connections support for remote data transferring and control. Sony Alpha NEX 6 supports automatic and manual focus, exposure and diaphragm control and can be used for astronomical photos making. Following connectors are installed on it : Micro-USB 2.0 for data transferring and Li-ion battery charging, HDMI Mini Type C and Hot Shoe; one charge of battery is enough for 270 photos making with viewfinder. Camera sizes are 122 ( width ) x 71 ( height ) x 28 ( depth ) mm and mass is 286 g ( only camera without lens, battery and memory card ); its body is made from metal. Sony does not provide information about operating conditions, but, probably, they do not differ much from other cameras : temperature in 0 – 40 degrees on Celsius range and relative air humidity in 10 – 90 % range.
Photo-camera Sony Alpha NEX 6 ( rear view )
Package contains : Sony Alpha NEX 6 camera itself, USB cable, Li-ion battery NP-FW50, recharger AC-UB10, shoulder strap, caps for body and viewfinder, CD-ROM disk with software, 1-year warranty card and user’s guide; there are also kits with included lenses. Camera is great, giving very good image and video quality, only in JPEG there can be noticeable amount of compression and processing artifacts; wherein it costs as entry-level mirrored cameras, but gives APS-C sensor and semi-professional functions in compact, light and tough body.
Smartphone Microsoft Lumia 950 XL is one of the most powerful of company’s mobile devices, today we will talk about it; it works on Windows 10 platform, supports 2 SIM cards and LTE ( 4G ). Multitouch 5.7″ AMOLED display has WQHD ( 2560 x 1440 pixels ) resolution, 24 bits ( 16 M color ) color reproduction and 518 pixels per inch density; processor is 8-cored with 2 GHz frequency, RAM is 3 GB, there are 32 GB of built-in memory ( part of it is taken by OS and preinstalled programs ) with ability to automatically upload files to OneDrive cloud servers and extension via MicroSD slot. Smartphone supports connections in GSM, EGPRS, WCDMA ( 3G ) and LTE ( 4G ) networks; can work with 2 Nano SIM cards; and supports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and NFC wireless connections for data transfers and communication with other devices.
Smartphone Microsoft Lumia 950 XL ( side view )
From navigation it supports : GLONASS, GPS, barometer, gyroscope and coordinates determination via Wi-Fi and A-BeiDou networks; it has lighting, proximity and orientation sensors. Main camera has 20 MP resolution; 1/2.4″ optical sensor; digital zoom; lens with 6 elements, optical image stabilization, f/1.9 aperture and 0.1 m minimal focusing distance ( camera would be great, if not small sensor size ). Frontal camera has 5 MP resolution with ability to record Full HD 1920 x 1080 video and f/2.4 aperture. Smartphone records videos in modes up to 4K and saves them in MP4 and H.264 formats with 4 channels sound in AAC LC, AMR-NB and GSM FR formats. Microsoft Lumia 950 XL has following connectors : USB 3.1 for communication with computer, external devices connection and Li-ion battery charging, DisplayPort via USB port and 1/8″ mini-jack output for headset. It can work in stand-by mode with 2 SIMs for 12 days or in talking mode for up to 25 hours and supports wired and remote Qi battery charging.
From other functions following can be mentioned : FM radio, support of DirectX 11 and Xbox, local and Internet connections encryption and ability for plugging in Microsoft Display Dock device, which allows to connect to it external display, keyboard and mouse and transform it, effectively, into fully functional computer. Rear panels are swappable, it is supplied in 2 color variants : black and white; its sizes are 151.9 ( height ) x 78.4 ( width ) x 8.1 ( depth ) mm and mass is 165 g. Package contains : Microsoft Lumia 950 XL for 2 SIM cards smartphone itself, USB-C cable, Li-ion battery, recharger, warranty card and user’s guide. Smartphone is great in all respects, but its price is 750 USD.
Lets review compact mirrorless camera Olympus PEN E-PL5, equipped with 4/3″ Live MOS sensor with 16.1 MP effective resolution, TruePic VI graphical processor and Micro Four Thirds mount for interchangeable lenses; sensor and processor are the same, as used in top-level Olympus OM-D 5 camera. It makes photos with 4608 x 3456 pixels maximal resolution and saves them in JPEG, RAW ( with 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 VGA 640 x 480 30 with saving in MOV ( with MPEG‑4 AVC/H.264 image encoding ) and AVI ( Motion JPEG ) formats and Wave РСМ 16 bits and 48 kHz stereo sound recording via built in microphones or external one. ISO sensitivity levels are in 200 – 25600 range; color spaces are sRGB and AdobeRGB. Camera has no built in flash and viewfinder, there is ability to attach external ones, its 3″ touch LCD screen can be tilted and has 460 K dots resolution.
Photo-camera Olympus PEN E-PL5 ( top view )
Olympus PEN E-PL5 supports automatic and manual focus, exposure and diaphragm settings and can be used for astronomical photos making. It saves photos and videos on SD, SDHC and SDXC ( UHS-I ) flash memory cards; supports FlashAir, Eye-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connections for remote data transfers and control. It has following connectors : USB 2.0 port for communication with computer and Li-ion battery charging; combined USB/AV output; HDMI Micro Type D; Hot Shoe and Accessory Port 2. One charge of battery is enough for 360 photos; camera sizes are 110.5 ( width ) x 63.7 ( height ) x 38.2 ( depth ) mm and mass is 279 g ( only camera without lens, battery and memory card ); operating conditions are temperatures in 0 – 40 degrees on Celsius range, relative air humidity levels in 30 – 90 % range.
Photo-camera Olympus PEN E-PL5 ( back view )
Frontal handle can be unscrewed, camera is supplied in 3 color variants : black, white and silver, its body is made from metal. Package contains : Olympus PEN E-PL5 camera itself, USB cable, Li-ion battery BLS-5, recharger BCS-5, external flash FL-LM1, AV cable, CD-ROM disk with OLYMPUS Viewer 2 software, shoulder strap, warranty card and user’s guide; there are also kits with included lenses. Camera is great, giving photos and videos quality on level of professional mirrored camera Olympus OM-D 5 with improved hand grip and battery use effectiveness; from its minuses only high price can be noted, for which APS-C sensored Sony, Canon and Fujifilm compact cameras can be bought; in this case there is need to look what is better : professional technologies of OM-D 5 in compact body or APS-C sensor.
After Windows 10 OS release Microsoft started to manufacture smartphones, based on it : Microsoft Lumia 550 – is one of them, having LTE ( 4G ) connections support and adequate for its technologies and functions price. Capacitive multi-touch display has 4.7″ size, HD 1280 x 720 pixels resolution and 24 bits ( 16 M colors ) precision; 4-cores Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor with 1100 MHz frequency is built into it, also 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of built-in memory ( OS and pre-installed programs take part of it ) and automatic files saving on OneDrive cloud servers; additionally there is ability to use MicroSD flash memory cards. Main 5 MP camera supports auto focus and 2x digital zoom, with 28 mm fixed focus, f/2.4 fixed aperture, 1/4″ sensor size, 0.1 m minimal focusing distance and LED flash. Frontal camera has 2 MP ( VGA 640 x 480 pixels ) resolution and f/2.8 aperture. Smartphone records video in HD 1280 x 720 30 mode and saves it in MP4 and H.264 formats with AAC LC, AMR-NB and GSM FR mono sound formats.
Smartphone Microsoft Lumia 550 ( side view )
Microsoft Lumia 550 supports following connections : GSM, EGPRS, WCDMA ( 3G ) and LTE ( 4G ); navigation includes GLONASS, GPS and Wi-Fi and A-BeiDou positioning; it has proximity, light and orientation sensors. One charge of its Li-ion battery is enough for 28 days of stand-by mode or 16 hours of talking; there are interchangeable back panels with white and black color variants. Sim-card is Nano SIM; smartphone has 3.5 mm mini-jack output for headset and Micro-USB 2.0 connector for data transfers, battery charging and remote devices plugging in; it supports Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi wireless connections for data transferring and communication with other devices. From other functions following can be noted : support of FM and internet radio, Internet and local connections encryption and support of DirectX 11 and Xbox. Its sizes are 136.1 ( height ) x 67.8 ( width ) x 9.9 ( depth ) mm and mass is 141.9 g.
Package contains : Microsoft Lumia 550 smartphone itself, USB cable, Li-ion battery, recharger, warranty card and user’s guide. This is a good smartphone with Windows 10 and 4G and adequate for its technologies and functions price point, so, in case of searching for such device, this one worth looking at.
Lets meet with new mirrorless photo camera Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7 – first one with tiltable built-in electronic viewfinder. 4/3″ Live MOS sensor with 16 MP effective resolution is built into it, image is processed by Venus Engine, interchangeable lenses are attached via Micro Four Thirds mount, image stabilization is via sensor shifting. Camera makes photos with 4592 x 3448 pixels maximal resolution and saves them in JPEG ( DCF, Exif 2.3 ), RAW and MPO formats; supported video recording modes are Full HD 1920 × 1080 60fps ( signal from sensor comes with 60p frequency ), HD 1280 x 720 30fps ( 30 ) and VGA 640 x 480 30fps ( 30 ) with saving in AVCHD ( with Dolby Digital 2ch sound format ) and MP4 ( AAC 2ch ) formats. Camera records sound only via built-in microphones in stereo mode; external microphones can not be attached to it; ISO sensitivity levels are in 160 – 25600 range, color spaces are sRGB and Adobe RGB. Electronic tiltable LCD Live View viewfinder has 2.76 M dots resolution; it has built-in flash; tilting touch TFT LCD screen has 1.04 M dots resolution.
Photo camera Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7 ( top view )
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7 records video and photos on SD, SDHC and SDXC ( UHS-I ) flash memory cards; it supports Wi-Fi and NFC connections for remote data transfers and control. Camera allows manual and automatic control of focus, diaphragm and exposure, it can be used for astronomical photos making with use of T-mount adapter. Following connectors are placed on it : USB 2.0 for data transfers and Li-ion battery charging; HDMI Mini Type C; AV output; 2.5 mm input for remote control; and Hot Shoe; one charge of battery is enough for 320 photos making. Camera sizes are 122.6 ( width ) x 70.7 ( height ) x 54.6 ( depth ) mm and mass is 360 g ( only camera body without lens, memory card and battery ). Operating conditions are : temperature in 0 – 40 degrees on Celsius range and relative air humidity levels in 10 – 80 % range.
Photo camera Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7 ( rear view )
Package contains : Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7 camera itself, USB cable, Li-ion battery, recharger, CD-ROM disk with software ( PHOTOfunSTUDIO 9.2 PE, SILKYPIX Developer Studio 3.1 SE and LoiLoScope 30-days trial version ), shoulder strap, body cap, warranty card and user’s guide; there are kits with included lens, blends and caps for them. This is a great mirrorless compact camera, packaged with modern technologies and giving excellent videos and RAW photos quality; from its minuses following can be mentioned : higher, than competitors, JPEG photos compression artifacts amount ( this is inherent to all Panasonic cameras with Venus Engine ) and very high price ( when new models will come out, it will go down, but even now its technologies and functions justify its price; although for such money there is ability to buy APS-C sensored Sony, Canon and Fujifilm cameras ).
