Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28, First Impression

CCD Resurgence: Image making with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28, a very impressive first outing with a 10MP CCD sensor digital bridge.

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I upgraded my digital bridge camera recently, from the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 which I have been using for a couple of period sessions, to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28. The update saw me having a slightly bigger 1/2.33" CCD sensor (1/2.5" on the FZ18) and a higher image resolution at 10MP (8.3MP on the FZ18). Like the FZ18, the FZ28 comes with a 1:2.8~4.4 18x optical zoom Leica DC Vario-Elmarit lens with a zoom range from 27-486mm (35mm equivalent). For image processing, the FZ28 features the high-speed, high-performance, Venus Engine IV.

Besides the numerous specs that you look up from digital camera review sites, the FZ28 is now capable of doing video clips in HD (not really my forte), comes with a 230,000 dots 2.7-inch display, and a Record/Play toggle, right where your thumb would rest when shooting. The new Venus engine does seem to be slightly better than the Venus III of the FZ18. While touching up the images on the computer is recommended, I tweaked mine mainly with Auto Tone Correction, Brightness & Contrast, and a bit of Unsharp Mask.

Panasonic Kumix DMC-FZ28

Enjoying photography is not without the pitfall of just having a camera that you are not too happy with, the inquisitive need for model upgrades or replacements, and the cost of doing it all. With film photography, it could very well be the spiraling cost of film and its development charges, while on the other hand, the high cost of acquiring current digital models with very advanced features could be just as telling. Looking between the rift, you may find the ubiquitous digicam with CCD sensors as just the ticket for you, with captures that have lower noise, higher sensitivity, and better image homogeneity.

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Spiratone Minitel-M 500mm 1:8 Mirror, First Impression

The Vintage Enthusiast: Image making with a T-mount Spiratone Minitel-M 500mm 1:8 Mirror, first impression.

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Hi all, I am back to doing a 'Vintage Lesn Test' this week, after going for a sustained 'Re-Livimg The CCD Sensor' series for the past few weeks. This week's lens is the T-mount Spiratone Minitel-M 500mm 1:8 Mirror, a product launched in the 80s, which nobody seems to remember much about, nor saying much about it even on PentaxForums. The lens costs me USD 30 on the big bay.

Mirror lenses came with the cons of being only a single fixed aperture lens, a very slow one at it, and with quality that is something to be desired as well, including not being as their conventional telephoto counterparts (no, we are not thinking about Hubble here). It does have the merits, though, of being very compact and lightweight.

Olympus E-P5, Spiratone Minitel-M 500mm 1:8 Mirror

On the 2x crop sensor Olympus E-P5, with an equally easy-to-acquire T-mount adapter, the Spiratone Minitel 500mm 1:8 Mirror is a long throw super-telephoto with a 1000mm equivalent (35mm Full-frame) focal length, and with tweaks to the exposure settings that you can do on the camera itself, including increasing Contrast, Saturation, and Sharpness, and a little bit of Unshark Masking on the table-top, images could be just as equally impressive as I have done to mine as posted.

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SMC Pentax-A 50mm 1:2, The Green

CCD Resurgence: Image making with A SMC Pentax-A 50mm 1:2 mounted on a 10.2 MP CCD Pentax K-m Digital, the garden green.

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Testing the Pentax K-m with a manual focus prime lens here, with the SMC Pentax-A 50mm 1:2, a lightweight plastic-bodied lens manufactured by Pentax from 1985 to 1998. The series-A lenses by Pentax introduced the 'automatic' aperture settings capability of Pentax K-mount lenses. The lenses still had the aperture ring, which could be set manually, and they also had an 'A' setting, which allowed the camera to control the aperture automatically.

On the APS-C sensor K-m, the SMC Pentax-A 50mm 1:2 is the equivalent of a 75mm short telephoto lens. When mounted with the A-switch set, the K-m will trigger the inquest for a focal length input which, once set, will permit you to use the camera in its various exposure modes, with the lens triggering the In-Focus button intermittently to indicate that the subject in the frame is in focus. Focusing is still manual though.

Pentax K-m, SMC-Pentax-A 50mm 1:2

Testing was done among the greens of my mini garden, and as you can see, even when the shots were taken wide open, the images were as sharp as you wanted them to be. The color rendition is great and the contrast is excellent. Focusing is smooth, and with the aperture ring set to the 'A' mode, there is no more reason for you to make any adjustments to the plastic aperture ring itself. This lens has an overall rating of 8+ on PentaxForums, but personally, I'll give it a solid 10.

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Zonlai Discover 25mm 1:1.8, First Impression

Digital Moments: Image making with a Zonlai Discover 25mm 1:1.8, a low-cost manual focus prime, on the Olympus E-P5.

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The lens was listed on the auction as a Zonzei, and came in a Zonlai sponge lied box, but the lens itself says Discover on its trim ring. I know it is the same make, and you can find the lens listed as Zenzei, Discover, Kenro, Hengyijia, and maybe others as well. The lens is a low-cost manual focus prime manufactured for mirrorless cameras out of the mainland. Visually, it’s a beautiful lens, looks reminiscent of a film camera lens, feels solid and well-built, and comes with a hood.

The lens is fully manual, with a medium throw and a well-damped focusing scale. The aperture ring is clickless and equally well-damped, which I liked very much. The lens mount is equally well built and fits well, making it a standard normal 50mm equivalent on the E=P5. Not too much problem with focusing either as the E-P5 comes with a focus peaking feature which I use all the time with manual focus lenses.

Olympus E-P5, Zonlai Discover 25mm 1:1.8

For these first impression images, the shots were taken wide open, fairly close to the minimum focusing distance of 0.18 meters, on a quick session in the garden. The images were pretty sharp but the colors were rather subdued, which made me resort to Haze & Saturation enhancement or deduction on the tabletop image editor. The lens, though, is good enough to toy with bokeh shots or street photography walkabouts.

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