Hands on Reviews

What would you shoot if you were loaned a Hasselblad H4D-40? Recently, I had the opportunity to shoot with one. Having been a medium format film shooter back in college, using this camera seemed almost like I was coming back home. To see just what it could do, I put it to the test in a natural-light studio, against a medium format film camera.

I try not to fetishize gear. When you shoot as much as I do, everything loses its luster quickly—figuratively and literally. Cameras, lenses and lights are just the sum of their capabilities, and all that matters is how they'll help you achieve different visions. But my heart still skipped a beat when the updated version of Nikon's 200mm f/2 lens showed up on my doorstep.

My first encounter with the legendary Leica Noctilux was about ten years ago, when one of my good friends returned from a holiday in Switzerland with his new Leica M6 and an assortment of Leica lenses—all given to him by his grandfather! Yes, GIVEN! And among those lenses was the Leitz Noctilux f1. I remember seeing those first images Michael shot on his new M6, wide open, with the Noctilux, and I remember thinking, "My goodness, I couldn't care less if there's no actual point of focus in the image!" The way that Noctilux rendered was just breathtaking.

I've been an advocate of Nik Software's original black-and-white conversion plug-in, Silver Efex Pro (SEP), since it was released a few years ago. Recently, Nik Software released a major revision, Silver Efex Pro 2 (SEP2). In this review, I'll take a look at what's new in SEP2 and compare its features to the original version of SEP.

Take a look with us at the Canon Powershot DSC-SX230 HS, a travel zoom point-and-shoot camera with Canon Movie Digest mode and a 14x lens that zooms from a wide 28 to 392mm (equivalent). The SX230 has a 12MP backlit CMOS sensor, sensitive to ISO 3200. It can capture good low-light pictures and has full 1080 HD video at 30 fps for detailed motion pictures with stereo sound, slow motion up to 240 fps and a GPS function to geo-tag your photos.

In this video we review the Samsung SH100, a 14MP camera with unique Wi-Fi capabilities.The SH100 has a 5x zoom lens and a three-inch touch screen.When you first pick up the Samsung SH100 and see the app-like icons on the touch screen, you could have the sense that you are using a smart phone rather than a camera.

The Nikon Coolpix P500 comes with a 36x zoom—the longest zoom available in a point-and-shoot camera today. To capture your still images as well as full 1080p video,  Nikon includes a 12MP, back-illuminated CMOS sensor that is sensitive up to ISO 3200.