The Nikon Coolpix S620 is being promoted by Nikon as a camera ‘built for speed’ with a fast start up time (0.7 seconds).

The S620 packs some decent features with a 12 megapixel image sensor, 4x optical zoom Nikkor lens (28mm at its widest), 2.7 inch LCD screen and 45MB of internal memory.

The Nikon Coolpix S620 comes with an ISO range of up to 6400, vibration reduction, motion detection, smile and blink detection as well as a full range of scene modes.

The Nikon Coolpix S620 will have a retail price of $270 USD and comes in Noble Purple, Jet Black, Dusty Pink, Sky Blue and Rich Pearl.

Also announced today by Nikon are the Nikon Coolpix P90, Nikon Coolpix S630, S230 and S220.

Nikon Coolpix S620 Promotional Description

Clocking in with a start-up time of just 0.7s, the Nikon Coolpix S620 is an extremely fast camera housed in a compact, well designed body.

The Nikon Coolpix S620 features 12.2 effective megapixels, a NIKKOR 4x zoom lens covering wide-angle 28mm (35mm-format equivalent), and a 2.7-inch, wide-viewing angle LCD monitor. Yet such a small body also houses a vast array of high-performance shooting features.

Also unique for a compact digital camera, the Nikon Coolpix S620 has a high sensitivity range up to ISO 6400 for low noise at full-size images. It also includes four anti-blur technologies, including lens-shift VR, and Motion Detection, new Blink Proof and Quick Retouch, Subject Tracking AF and Scene Auto Selector. The metallic body with its elegant curves is available in Bright Silver, Calm Black, Noble Purple and Precious Pink. It’s the obvious choice for anyone looking for a combination of performance and style.

Tags: New Cameras, Nikon, Nikon Cameas

Original post by Darren Rowse

In the past I have worked as a safari guide in South Africa and during that time, not only did I have many opportunities to take great wildlife photos, but many of my guests would come out to Africa with the latest photographic equipment. Apart from my interest in wildlife and the outdoors, I am also a keen amateur photographer and so as well as the wildlife, also take a keen interest in the cameras that would come out on safari with us!

Of the many types of cameras, the most popular amongst guests who wanted to take quality wildlife photos were either Digital SLR cameras or Digital Super-zooms. My personal preference for a camera specifically for safari holidays is the Super-zoom and I have written an article on what I believe to be the best digital camera for safari and travel on my Safari Holiday Guide website and yes, it is a Super-zoom, but why a Super-zoom and not a SLR camera?

First let’s take a look at the main characteristics of each type of camera:

Super-zooms

A Super-zoom camera main characteristic is it’s a very long zoom range, at least 10x or greater. The lenses are attached to the body of the camera and cannot be removed. While traditionally bulkier and heavier than compact cameras as the technology improves, manufacturers continue to design them to be smaller and lighter. Using lightweight parts there are some that now weigh as little as 14 ounces (about 400g).

SLRs

SLRs, the largest and heaviest type of digital camera. The offer the most versatility and power as well as interchangeable lenses and will come with a million features including: instant start-up, minimal shutter lag for fast, continuous shooting, a large image sensor, RAW images, and excellent battery life. The new digitalSLRs now also have the best features from the compact digital cameras incorporated into them including on screen help guides and real-time or “live view” framing on the LCD screen rather than only through the viewfinder.

There is no denying that Single-lens reflex cameras are more serious cameras, with the ability to capture fast action or produce high quality images from the most demanding light conditions, so why then do I recommend a Super-zoom digital camera as a safari or travel camera?

Size and Weight

Professional photographers will always use SLR cameras, but you must remember that this is their job, they are not going on holiday! A good camera for any holiday should be as small and light as possible. Not only for your luggage allowance on the flights, but also remember as a tourist anywhere in the world, you are a target and there may be times that you would like to conceal the fact that you are carrying around a very expensive piece of equipment. Whilst bigger and heavier than a compact digital camera, Super-zooms are much more compact than a SLR with a reasonable telephoto lens attached to it. On a safari holiday, I would also highly recommend you take a good pair of binoculars and possibly some wildlife books, it just makes sense to have a camera that is as small as possible without sacrificing picture quality too much.

Cost

Even though your guide will do their best to get you in and as close to the wildlife as possible and you may even sometimes wish you as close to that elephant bull as he ambles past your vehicle. Most of the time you will be taking photos at maximum zoom. Not only do Super-zooms continue to get smaller and lighter, but their zooms continue to get stronger. For example the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 has an impressive 18x zoom, equivalent to 504mm. To achieve this on a SLR will require a very expensive telephoto lens and that is not including the fact that the body of good qualitySLR’s, whilst getting cheaper, could not be described as cheap. The chances are nothing will happen, but the odds increase when you go traveling that your camera could get damaged, lost or stolen and so I would also use this rule of thumb when going on holiday: never travel with anything you can’t afford to loose.

To Summarize:

If you are a professional photographer or just want to get the ultimate quality photographs, no matter the cost, size or weight then an SLR with a big telephoto lens is the way to go. If however you main intention is to go on holiday and take some excellent photographs along the way, I would go for a quality Super-zoom camera.

Tags: dslrs, safari, super zooms

Original post by Jason Whitehead

A few years ago while on a tour in Morocco with a group of others I sat next to a fellow traveler on a tour bus. He was quickly scrolling through the shots he’d taken on his camera - deleting picture after picture.

I asked him what he was doing and he told me that he was ‘culling’ shots to make more room on his memory card. As I watched him I wondered how much he could tell about the shots he was deleting from his camera’s little 2 inch LCD.

While I understand the feeling of getting to the end of a memory cards capacity when you want to take more shots - if you do have the space on your memory card I would recommend that you don’t delete too many shots while you’re out and about and wait until you get back to your computer to do so.

The reason I suggest waiting is that quite often some of the ‘mistake’ shots can actually end up being some of your best (sometimes in quite a in an abstract sort of way).

When you look at images on your camera’s LCD the photo is obviously quite compressed and you can sometimes not see details that you would when you view it on your computer. There may actually be something quite useful tucked away in the details that you’ll never know about if you delete too quickly.

For example - the picture on this post was taken on the streets in Morocco on that same trip. It was taken on my first little point and shoot digital camera (A Canon Powershot A60). It was actually a complete accident that I took the shot (I thought I was turning the camera off when I was actually pressing the shutter). At first glance it is an out of focus and poorly framed shot (actually it’s that on a second look too) but there’s something about this shot that keeps drawing me back to it.

It won’t win any awards but it is a shot that means something quite powerful to me and which is something that evokes a lot of memories for me.

I’m glad I didn’t join my fellow travellor in his picture cull that day because I’d probably have deleted this one.

Tags: Deleting Photos, Mistakes

Original post by Darren Rowse

Just Posted: Our full review of the Pentax K2000 (or K-m to the Europeans amongst us). Pentax’s latest baby DSLR enters the ring with much of the K200D’s capability slimmed down into an even smaller, lighter, more use-friendly format. But the flyweight end of the DSLR market is home to some plucky competitors, so can the K2000 do enough to fight its corner? Read our 35 page review to find out.

Original post by Andrew Barrow