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Sony α7R II – camera with very professional functions and corresponding price

Sony α7R II camera
Sony α7R II camera

Sony released new professional camera Sony α7R II. It has built in CMOS back lit sensor with full-frame 35 mm size and 40.2 MP effective resolution; its image processor is BIONZ X; and interchangeable lens are attached to it via Sony E-mount. 5-axis image stabilization is performed by sensor shifting. Camera supports ISO 50 – 102400 sensitivity levels; and photos shooting in 7952 x 5304 pixels maximal resolution with saving in JPEG and RAW ( with 14 bits per channel of color depth; it is worth to note, that camera supports only lossy compression in RAW saving mode ) formats. It supports following videos recording modes : 4K 3840 x 2160 30p/25p/24p, Full HD 1920 x 1080 60p/30p/25p/24p and HD 1280 x 720 120p/100p/30p/25p/24p, with saving in XAVC S, AVCHD format Ver. 2.0 compliant or MP4 with MPEG-4 AVC or H.264 image encoding and Dolby Digital ( AC-3 ) 2ch, Dolby Digital Stereo Creator, MPEG-4 AAC-LC 2ch or LPCM 2ch sound formats. Camera supports manual setting of exposure and focus parameters, which allow to use it for astro photo. Its main TFT LCD display has 2.95-inch size and 1.2288M dots resolution; its XGA OLED viewfinder with 0.51-inch size has 2.359M dots resolution. Camera supports only one flash memory cards slot of following standards : Memory Stick, SD, SDHC ( UHS-I ), SDXC ( UHS-I ), micro SD, micro SDHC and micro SDXC; it can establish Wi-Fi and NFC wireless connections for photos and data transmitting and remote control of camera from smartphone; and has USB ( for data sending and battery recharging ), HDMI micro Type-D ( for pictures and videos viewing on screens of TV or monitor ), and two 3.5 mm mini-jack ( for external microphone and headphones ) connectors. Package contains : Sony α7R II camera itself without objective lens, Li-ion battery ( one charge of which is enough for making of 290 photos ), recharger, AC power cable and adapter, USB cable, strap on hand, user’s guide and different caps and coverings for camera. It is worth to note, that professional cameras of other manufacturers, for example, Nikon, Canon, Olympus and others, cost much less ( manufacturer suggested retail price at the beginning of Autumn of 2015 year for Sony α7R II is 3.2K USD ) and interchangeable lens of these manufacturers usually cost much less.

Review of external semi-professional sound card ESI UGM96

ESI UGM96 sound card
ESI UGM96 sound card

In this article we will review semi-professional external sound card ESI UGM96. It was released in 2008 year, but in this electronics segment devices become obsolete not so fast, as in other areas. It has 2 unbalanced stereo outputs and 2 unbalanced mono Hi-Z inputs. There is ability to switch one input into microphone input with preamp mode; and there is ability to switch one output into linear mode, so that signal is not processed by sound card’s amplifier. It supports playback modes up to 96 kHz and 24 bits and the same recording modes. There are drivers released for sound card for Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP ( with ASIO support ) and Mac OS X 10.4 and newer ( with Core Audio support ) operating systems; support of these professional audio playback and recording interfaces allows to do this with very low latency, which is extremely important in professional work with audio. Sound card is fully powered by one USB port. Card has 2 stereo outputs, but does not work in 4 channel mode : both outputs transmit the same signal; it does not support hardware acceleration of 3D sound in games and virtual reality applications ( but software implementation of these functions works without problems with this sound card in all applications ). Sound card sizes are 7 x 8 cm. Based on my experience of work with ESI UGM96, I can say, that this is great sound card : quality of music and sounds in films and games is great; quality of audio recordings with good microphone is also great, and card is supported by all moderns DAWs : FL Studio, REAPER and other. Package contains : ESI UGM96 sound card itself, USB cable, CD-ROM disks with drivers and additional software and user’s guide. There is need to note, that this sound card has one of the lowest prices among external semi-professional sound cards.

3D Sound Labs One – headphones with 3D sound positioning

3D Sound Labs One headphones
3D Sound Labs One headphones

3D Sound Labs anounced new headphones 3D Sound Labs One with 3D sound positioning. They have built in gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer sensors, which track head movement and allow to precisely determine head position. This data then sent to computer via Bluetooth connection, where special program processes it and changes sound so, that person have feeling, that he or she rotates head in respect to real sound source. This way there is realistic 3D sound picture is reproduced, which is most plausible for multichannel sound : movies, games and virtual reality applications. Headphones have built in Li-ion battery, which powers sensors and wireless transmitter. Headphones themselves are of monitor type, with isolation from surround sounds and neodymium magnets, which move membranes. All in all this is interesting novelty for mobile use, but taking into account their price ( 269 USD at the beginning of Autumn 2015 ), it is better to buy 5.1 or 7.1 speakers with subwoofer or by drivers and create speakers by yourself and receive sound with much better quality without dependence on some application. 3D Sound Labs One headphones will be available in stores from 15th September of this year.

RICOH THETA S – camera for 360 degrees photos and videos

RICOH THETA S camera
RICOH THETA S camera

RICOH released RICOH THETA S camera for 360 degrees photos and videos shooting. It has 2 objective lenses and 2 CMOS sensors with 1/2.3-inch size and 12 MP effective resolution, which allow to make real time panorama photos and videos. Camera can make photos with ISO 100 – 1600 sensitivity levels and save them in JPEG format; it records videos with the same ISO levels in Full HD 1920 x 1080 and HD 1280 x 720 modes and saves them in MP4 ( with MPEG-4 AVC or H.264 image encoding and AAC audio encoding ) format. It supports wireless connections for data transmitting and remote control of camera; has USB 2.0 ( for photos and videos transmitting and battery recharging ) and HDMI Micro Type-D ( for images viewing on screens of TV or monitor ) connectors; and saves data on built in flash memory with 8 GB size. One charge of its Li-ion battery is enough for making of 260 photos. Camera sizes are : 44 x 130 x 22.9 mm ( width x height x depth ), and weight is : 125 g. Camera can work in 0 – 40 degrees on Celsius temperatures range and at relative ait humidity levels below 90 %. Package contains : RICOH THETA S camera itself, recharger and user’s guide.

Sony DSC-HX90V camera review

Sony DSC-HX90V camera
Sony DSC-HX90V camera

Sony released new compact camera Sony DSC-HX90V, its main features are : 30x optical zoom and electronic viewfinder. It is equipped with Exmor R CMOS sensor with 1/2.3-inch size and 18.2 MP effective resolution, ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T* objective lens and BIONZ X image processor. Its image stabilization system is optical and it supports manual focus and exposure settings. Camera can shoot photos with 4896 × 3672 pixels maximal resolution with ISO 80 – 12800 sensitivity levels and can save them in JPEG format. It supports following video recording modes : Full HD 1920 x 1080 60p/50p/30p and HD 1280 x 720 60p/50p/30p ( with ISO 80 – 3200 sensitivity levels ) with saving in AVC S, AVCHD format ver. 2.0 compatible or MP4 formats. Its main TFT LCD has 921.6K dots resolution and 2.95-inch size, its OLED viewfinder has 0.2-inch size. It supports following flash memory cards formats : Memory Stick, SD, SDHC, SDXC, micro SD, micro SDHC and micro SDXC. Camera supports Wi-Fi connections ( for photos and videos transmitting to mobile devices and remote control of camera from smartphone ) and GPS navigation for automatic determination of coordinates of place of shooting. It has following connectors : USB 2.0 for data transmitting and battery recharging and Micro HDMI for images viewing on screens of TV and monitor. One charge of its Li-ion battery is enough for making of 390 photos. Package contains : Sony DSC-HX90V camera itself, Li-ion battery, recharger, USB cable, user’s guide and strap on hand.

Sony DSCWX500 – compact camera with 30x optical zoom

Sony DSCWX500 camera
Sony DSCWX500 camera

Sony released new compact camera Sony DSCWX500 with 30x optical zoom. It is equipped with : ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T* objective lens, Exmor R CMOS sensor with 1/2.3-inch size ( which is not very much for camera with such price ) and 18.2 MP effective resolution and BIONZ X image processor. It can shoot photos with 4896 × 3672 pixels maximal resolution and save them in JPEG format. Camera records videos in Full HD 1920 x 1080 60p/50p/28p and HD 60p/50p/28p modes and saves them in XAVC S, AVCHD format ver. 2.0 compatible and MP4 formats. Its TFT LCD display has 2.95-inch size and 921.6K dots resolution and can rotate under different angles. Camera does not support manual focus and exposure settings, which makes it unusable for astro photo. One charge of its Li-ion battery is enough for making of 400 photos. Camera supports Wi-Fi connections for photos and videos transmitting to mobile devices and for remote control of camera from smartphone. It has following connectors : USB 2.0 for data transmitting and battery recharging and Micro HDMI for images viewing on screens of TV or monitor. Package contains : Sony DSCWX500 camera itself, Li-ion battery, recharger, USB cable, strap on hand and user’s guide. Overall : it is good fully automatic camera for persons, who does not like to go into details of professional photo, who need 30x optical zoom and tilting display; the other advantage : it is Sony. But it is worth to note, that there are much cheaper good automatic cameras and for such amount of money there is ability to buy semi-professional camera, which will give much more opportunities.

Nikon D810A – very professional camera for astro photo

Nikon D810A camera
Nikon D810A camera

Nikon released new professional DSLR camera Nikon D810A for astro photo. Its CMOS sensor has 35.9 x 24 mm sizes and 36.3 MP effective resolution. Interchangeable lenses are attached to it via Nikon F mount; there is ability to shoot photos and videos by using camera instead of telescope eyepiece, or add Barlow lens to system ( which increases magnification ). It supports 100 – 51200 ISO levels and can make photos with 7360 x 4912 pixels maximal resolution, saving them in JPEG, NEF ( RAW; with 12 or 14 bits per channel color depth and lossless compression ) and TIFF formats. Nikon D810A supports manual focus and exposure settings, which are used in astro photo. And can record videos in Full HD 1920 x 1080 60/50/30/25/24 fps and HD 1280 x 720 60/50 fps modes, saving them in MOV format with H.264 or MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding image encoding and Linear PCM sound format. Camera records stereo sound with use of internal or external microphone. Its main TFT LCD display has 3.2-inch size and 1.229M dots resolution; its optical viewfinder is of Eye-level Pentaprism Single-Lens Reflex Viewfinder type. Camera saves photos and videos on CompactFlash ( CF, Type I, UDMA ), SD, SDHC and SDXC flash memory cards; and has following connectors : USB 3.0 ( for data transmitting and battery recharging ), mini HDMI Type C for viewing of images on screens of TV or monitor, audio-video output, headphones output and 3.5 mm mini-jack input for external microphone. It supports Wi-Fi connections for photos and videos transmitting to mobile devices and remote control of camera from smartphone; and GPS navigation for automatic determination of place of shooting coordinates. One charge of its Li-ion battery is enough for making of 1200 photos. Camera sizes are : 146 x 123 x 81.5 mm ( width x height x depth ); and weight is : 880 g ( without objective lens, memory card and battery ); it can work in 0 – 40 degrees on Celsius temperatures range. Package contains : Nikon D810A camera body ( without objective lens ), Li-ion battery, recharger, user’s guide and different caps and coverings for camera.

Panasonic DMC-CM1 – camera-smartphone with professional functions

Panasonic DMC-CM1 camera-smartphone
Panasonic DMC-CM1 camera-smartphone

Panasonic released new camera-smartphone Panasonic DMC-CM1 with very professional functions. It combines camera and Android 4.4 phone with ability to setup additional applications onto it. Its MOS sensor has 1-inch size ( which is much larger, than 1/2.3 and 1/3 inch sensors, which are usually set into inexpensive cameras and smartphones ) and 20.1 MP effective resolution. It is equipped with LEICA DC ELMARIT lens without optical zoom. Camera can shoot photos in 5472 x 3648 pixels maximal resolution and save them in JPEG and RAW ( which is usually available only in professional cameras ) formats. It can record videos in 4K 3840 x 2160 15p, Full HD 1920 x 1080 30p, HD 1280 x 720 30p and VGA 640 x 480 30p modes and save them in MP4 format. Camera supports manual focus and exposure settings and 100 – 25600 ISO levels. Its main 4.7-inch TFT LCD display has 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution. Its smartphone functions are supported by : Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor; 2 GB of RAM; 16 GB of built in storage memory ( with ability to expand to 128 GB with use of micro SD and micro SDXC flash memory cards ); micro SIM Class B / Class C cards ( with support of 4G, 3G and 2G connections ); acceleration, gyro, proximity, lighting and pressure sensors and compass; and GPS and GLONASS navigation. Camera supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections for communication with other devices and has following connectors : USB ( for data transmitting and battery recharging ), input for external stereo microphone and 3.5 mm mini-jack connector for headset. One charge of its Li-ion battery is enough for making of 300 photos. Camera sizes are : 135.4 x 68 x 21.1 mm ( height x width x depth ), weight is : 204 g. Package contains : Panasonic DMC-CM1 camera itself, Li-ion battery, recharger, headset and user’s guide.

Philips SHE9100 in-ears headphones review with 7 Hz – 25 kHz and 108 dB sensitivity for 17 USD

Philips SHE9100 headphones
Philips SHE9100 headphones

Philips released new dynamic in ears headphones Philips SHE9100 with semi-open acoustic architecture. Their drivers have 8.6 mm diameter and are powered by neodymium magnets, tuned for clear reproduction of high frequencies; they have only 1 driver in each cup. Housing is manufactured from aluminum, which makes sounds reproduction more clear; their diaphragms are made from maylar – form of polyester resin. They can reproduce sounds in 7 – 25000 Hz frequencies range, have 108 dBa / 1 mW sensitivity, their impedance is 16 Ohms and maximal power input is 30 mW. Their cable has 1.2 m length, is mounted to both cups, not detachable and connects to sound source via 3.5 mm gold-plated mini-jack connector, it has slider, which allows to keep cable parts together during movement, and in place of entrance into caps it is additionally reinforced with plastic tubes.

Weight of headphones is 12.5 g, they are supplied in 5 color variants : silver, black, red, blue and orange. They have no active noise cancellation, as some large monitor headphones have. Philips SHE9100 are shipped with eartips of 3 different sizes for comfortable wearing by people with different ears sizes and form of caps is oval, which is more convenient, than circle form. Package contains : Philips SHE9100 headphones themselves, 3 eartips of different sizes for each cap, and user’s guide.

Headphones are produced in accordance to ecological standards and have according passport. All in all Philips SHE9100 are oriented on use in trainings, sportive exercises and everyday use in home and outside, however there is need to be cautious with them on the streets to not bump into somebody, listening to the music; their price is around 17 USD. There is also need to note, that for the close price there is ability to buy other in-ears headphones of Philips and other companies production, including ones with microphones and smartphones control buttons. Wherein, if higher quality of all sounds frequencies reproduction is needed, especially in basses area, instead of compactness and lightness, then there is ability to look on 40 and 50 mm monitor headphones, among which there are very interesting models, with comparable price with this model.

Philips – is a company, which were founded in Dutch in 1891 year; now it has 3 large subdivisions, which develop and produce : consumer electronics, medical equipment and lighting devices. At current moment this is one of the largest companies – producers of electronics, in which around 105000 people work in 60 countries of the world. In electronics area it produces wide range of devices : from kitchen appliances to headphones and smartphones. Philips is notable for producing quality devices, providing proper technical information about them without using of large amounts of psychological marketing and for setting of optimal prices for its goods.

Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II – entry level camera with interchangeable lenses

Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II camera
Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II camera

Olympus announced new entry-level professional camera Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II with interchangeable objective lens. They are attached to it via Micro Four Thirds mount; its 4/3 Live MOS sensor has 17.3 x 13 mm sizes and 16.1 MP of effective resolution. it supports 5 axis image stabilization via sensor shift; manual focus and exposure settings ( which is very useful for astro photo and other purposes ); Time Lapse mode for shooting of very slow processes; and HDR ( High Dynamic Range ) functions, which improve color and lightness capturing for scenes, which contain simultaneously dim and high lit objects. It can shoot photos with 4608 x 3456 pixels maximal resolution and save them in JPEG, RAW ( with 12 bits per channel color depth and lossless compression ), RAW+JPEG and MPO formats. It can record videos in Full HD 1920 x 1080 60p/50p/30p/25p/24p and HD 1280 x 720 60p/50p/30p/25p/24p modes and save them in MOV ( with MPEG-4AVC or H.264 image encoding ) and AVI ( with Motion JPEG image encoding ) formats. Its main display has 3-inch size and 1040K dots resolution; its OLED viewfinder has 2.36M dots resolution. Camera saves photos and videos on SDHC, SDXC and UHS-I/II flash memory cards and supports Wi-Fi connections for data transmitting to mobile devices and for remote control of camera from smartphone. It has following connectors : USB/audio-video/remote control and Micro HDMI type-D for photos and videos viewing on screens of TV and monitor. One charge of Li-ion battery of Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II is enough for making of 320 photos. Its sizes are : 119.5 x 83.1 x 46.7 mm ( width x height x depth ), and weight is : 390 g. Camera can work in 0 – 40 degrees on Celsius temperatures range and in 30 – 90 % relative air humidity levels. Package contains : Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II camera itself, Li-ion battery, recharger, USB cable for data transmitting and battery recharging, CD-ROM disk with software, strap on hand, user’s guide and warranty card. It will be available in shops from 5th September of this year.