Nikon D3200 DSLR Camera Review

Firstly I got this under Deals Sulekha deals and paid Rs 31.6k for Nikon d3200 with AF-S VR 18-55 lens.(at present it is 31.3). I thought Wow! so less compared to MRP. Then I found it's market rate in my city is ~33.5K. OK. But I got it in 3 EMIs and at my doorstep with freebies 4GB + Bag which Nikon offers. This is available in Red and Black. When the Onam deal was started only Red was offered which I booked. I was a bit worried when black was also added. Ultimately when a Red D3200 is at my doorsteps it is dark red color won't disappoint you!

OK. I had a Canon550D with 18-135 lens at my workplace. Another competitor was D5100. I finally ended up with 3200 for its latest expeed3.  24MP is ok not so important but it is there for you. (Expeed3 is processing software of Nikon residing in camera )

One thing that fascinates me compared to 550d is servo AF feature in which as you rotate the camera the focusing changes continuously(in both still n video mode). Truly speaking as the subject on which the camera is focussed moves one place to another the camera will refocus continuously. This is quite useful when you are shooting with kids.

OK. I am not an experienced photographer and I just started experimenting with this piece. The results are good. but I have to take it outdoors for the full potential to be realized.

I am not that regular in using my camera. right ? so not keen to buy another VR zoom lens like 70-300 right now (12K). But may buy on VR for this piece.I got one old Nikon 35-105 AI-S Manual focus lens and already had another TAIR 11A (M42 thread Russian) 135 lens which I had coupled to this camera with an M42-Nikon adapter and took some shots. but still learning about this. pictures are too soft. will add a bit later. Hunting for old lenses.

This has an ext.mic socket like D5100/550D and you can reduce the noise due to movement of the lens (that is quite loud!) being recorded in video.

All the three cameras Canon 550d, Nikon D5100, and Nikon D3200 do NOT have a built-in focusing motor in the camera body. The kit lens which comes along with the camera (AF-S lens for Nikon) has that motor. So if you need extra lenses, you have to go for those with motors for auto-focussing (AF-S and not AF).

I used 550D in my office for lab work. Earlier I had 350D as well. The beauty with Canon and what is missing in Nikon is remote shooting. I had connected 350D to one instrument, removed the lens and all my results are captured in the remote mode using USB cable. Everything in canon is controllable. but not here in Nikon( in remote I mean).

Now you ask me Nikon vs Canon. Difficult. Canon is really master but so also Nikon. I preferred Nikon because of its continuous autofocusing in video mode.

Img: DSC250.JPG Nikon D3200+TAIR 11A (135/F2.8)  1/400, Aperture setting not taken but  closer to 2.8 No flash, in room light, 11-12 noon

I would like to describe one feature that I find very helpful. I am sure this is present in all DSLR these days. When you try to focus in manual mode you can always zoom what you are seeing and

improve your focusing (visual confirmation) Zooming can be done using + and - buttons on the back side.(27 9 12)

No Live Histogram

Let me explain the histogram feature here. Say you are doing the experiment in photography with either Nikon lens or some other manual lens. Btw other lenses will work ONLY in manual mode and in other modes, this camera will simply NOT open the shutter.

Now, what are parameters to play with for taking photographs?

a)zoom, focus- these are to image accurately objects at different distances.

b)exposure and aperture, very very important. with aperture you allow more or less light to fall on the chip and more opening (less aperture number) will also drastically reduce the depth of field. so when adjusting the aperture the amount of light reaching the detector changes and accordingly, you have to adjust the shutter time so that you do not either Under/Over expose the photo.

How do you know this?

In the absence of Live histogram (LH), in show you have to take multiple shots at different exposure and see the result to adjust shutter times. But if your camera has LH  you can switch it on. In the LHshowsa curve and the curve shows exposure at different under/mid/over exposed  areas. If your photo is too under exposed the curve will be moronthe left side and if it is too over exposed (saturated ) the curve will be more in the right side. For good pictures in normal cases the curve should be in the middle portion (bell shaped).

Many of Nikon DSLRs including d30/31/32/50/51' 00 do NOT have LH . Canon 550 D has.

Let us add more later.

Philips SHP 1900 Review

I'd like to share my experience with the latest mid-level headphones SHP1900.

I own SHP2700. It's a great headphone. But I needed medium range headphones that are not too bulky for enjoying some good music from my desktop PC. Having had the GREAT experience with PHILIPS headphones prior to this, I decided to go for no brand other than PHILIPS. Nothing can beat the quality of sound that PHILIPS headphones offer for the money.

On the Philips India website, there are three headphone models listed. All of them had positive reviews online. An audio dealer showed SHP-1900 and SHP-2500 models. Though  SHP-2500 had better sound quality, I discarded it because it has a 6-meter long cable which obviously can't be folded and kept in a pocket. So, I thought of giving SHP-1900 a test by playing some MP3 tracks. I didn't have a lot of expectations from these since the power output is only 500 mW compared to other high-end PHILIPS headphones. But  I was surprised to hear bass that these headphones produced. Being impressed, I bought it.

Specs:

Acoustic system: Open

Magnet type: Neodymium

Frequency response: 20 - 20 000 Hz

Impedance: 32 ohm

Sensitivity: 98 dB

Speaker diameter: 40 mm

Cable Connection: One-sided

Cable length: 2 m

Finishing of connector: Chrome-plated

Type of cable: Copper(Normal)

Connector: 3.5 mm

Packing:

Housed in a medium sized box, the headphones are placed on a red colored paper. The 2 m wires and 3.5 mm jack are folded and packed towards the back of the paper. Not bad for this price, I think.

Looks:

These headphones are very good looking. The beauty of these headphones is the pair of grayish-black colored dome shaped earcups in contrast to the faded white PHILIPS logo. The headband is designed so that it splits into two, runs separately and joins near the earcups. This provides better support to the headphones on top of the head.

Construction:

SHP-1900 is a very simple headphone. But it looks very good and is also lightweight. These Headphones come with a pair of 40 mm speakers and 2 meter long cables. These cables are thinner than in other Philips Headphones. The ear cushions are shaped in such a way that they perfectly align with the area around a person's ear: the generous leather padding all around the ear-cups ensures a snug fit. The special shape and luxurious materials used for the ear cushions ensure a perfect fit for maximum comfort. Philips claims it prevents audio leakage and enhances bass performance too. And the adjustable headband means no more slipping off, no more headaches from tightness, but a perfect fit.  But just as in other headphones, I find the resin material used for the contact areas of the headphones a little unpleasant.  When the weather's hot, the material may be unpleasant to wear for a prolonged period of time. This could be a problem for users living in places like New Delhi where the temperature is high. But it is easy to wipe clean and keep clean, so it is more of a personal preference than anything else. Another gripe I find is that there is no volume control as in the lower priced headphones.

Sound Quality:

The Philips Web page for this model says Lightweight yet Big Sound. Usable For PC, TV, and Music.

Well, initially, these headphones' bass was booming and the mids were high without treble. So I had to obviously burn-in them for many hours and the sound quality improved a lot. These headphones' earcups are dome shaped. I  feel this improves bass as there is depth for its speakers while firing sounds. I can really hear every single beat distinctly. In SMACK THAT.mp3, there is a certain bass sound that traverses from one channel to another. This headphone reproduces this sound amazingly. Watching movies and games is a blissful experience too. The drum-beats in music and the booms and the thuds in movies are really POWERFUL. Yet there's no distortion @ maximum volume. All in all, its sound quality is truly GREAT for this price as it pumps powerful sound into the ears.

Forget the'industry standard' SONY(which is a money puller) and other brands. Go for Philips. Philips audio products are lesser in cost but have better build quality, long life, and superb sound. Philips system MCi 900 with the'SoundSphere' technology has won the award for the best European Music System for 2010. I've used three Philips headphones and from my experience, I can blindly say that Philips is an'Audio Specialist'. Shame on the Philips marketing team that failed to promote the brand in this era of SONY and Samsung products.

Conclusion:

If you are looking for basic budget headphones in the price range of 500 to 600 Rupees to enjoy music, games, and movies, check these out. You'll enjoy the MEGA BASS for sure!

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium Review

I have been using the Xperia z(c6602) since its launch I was happy with the phone although disappointed with its camera, the phone would heat up at times but it did not affect me.

A couple of years later I needed to replace the Xperia z, I am not someone that changes phones too often unless something pleases me and makes me want to buy it. The Xperia z had been through a lot, dropped a ton of times and still kept going till a few days back when its vibrator stopped functioning and for me a person who keeps the phone in silent always this was very important.

I am a photographer and to me being on the field for hours means I need a phone that has enough battery life to last me, I don't mind carrying a power bank but hey it should at least give me a decent if not good back up, my previous Xperia z would last me about 15-20 hours on stamina mode and about 4-5 hours of screen on time. I needed a phone with a good display since I do transfer files from my cam over wifi to edit in snap seed and so cam this does not happen always but when it does a good display is everything to me. A good camera would be an added benefit. Using a lot of apple products I wanted an iPhone 6s but having been on android I had second thoughts of migrating to another system, mobile photography is popular with a lot of iPhone users and we can see a lot of great work by them.

it was a tough choice the market is filled with a lot of new brands that offer more for less but I was not keen on going for them, I knew nothing of their reliability.

AMOLED displays are not a good thing for me as in my opinion I found that they saturate colors which can be a bad thing for me, causing me to under-saturate pictures.

At the end, I had two options to go back with a sony or shift to an iPhone 6s.

I went over to a multi-brand store that had the iPhone 6s and the Xperia z5 and z5 premium and loaded with some images I shot and edited I transferred them to the three phones and did a side by side comparison. the z5 looked good but the z5 premium with the 4k display made it look way better, the phone had great natural colors but somewhere I found the z5 premium to look better especially with its deep blacks and good contrasts and on a 4k display made every detail visible. Now a camera tries between the two the phone excelled in having detailed images the z5 was not far behind, the phone had great imaging software available, but this was not my major point of buying, also the UI was just as the Xperia z I have and this made things easier.

I then hopped into a sony store to make the purchase, The difference between sony store and online stores was 1000 bucks at the most, and I could trust buying their phone from their own stores. I selected the chrome version since it looked premium and stylish at the same time. On boot up I noticed the phone is rather quick(I'm not a person that cares much of what hardware is on a phone like processor etc I'm more bothered of how it performs when I use it) but there was a catch I could not use my micro sim card and had to visit Vodafone for a nano sim card. Got the phone set up and updated software which needed updates and it was up and running. I used the phone for about 3 hours with its factory charge of 40% and kept browsing the camera interface and various modes. Post that I hooked it up to charge, the phone comes supplied with a sony quick charger but it felt slower than my 2400mah caspase, on investigating I noticed the charge rate depends on various parameters like temperature among other things and since the phone was still updating software it was getting hot. I was annoyed and then read up that the sd810 chip is known for heat issues, I started to regret the purchase. But then the updates were over and done and the phone did not feel hot anymore rather warm around 35-37c and the phone started charging quick.

In the meanwhile I transferred some music via sony bridge for mac and played a few and was amazed by the audio output as well as quality, the phone has stereo speakers and if u hold it in landscaped mode you do enjoy the effects, its like the vocals and a few instruments come from under the screen but there's no speakers there. I then transferred a movie and activated virtual surround and was blown away. I did not buy the phone to listen to music or watch movies but now I will do that, the supplied headset is pretty average to my liking and seems okayish quality. I have my beats in the ear which will suffice well.

I then went out to test the camera and was blown away, for a small sensor the bokeh were pretty good not the best but still good from a mobile device and low light was noise free( I use full frame cameras with 1.4 aperture lenses and shoot a lot of night landscapes) this was worth the price, the images had a good amount of details and balanced highlights and shadows tho some scenes it blows out the highlights, I wished the was a true manual mode where I could adjust the shutters. Iso goes up to 3200 but 800 iso is fairly noised free unless you pixel peep. 4k video is great but does heat the phone up, makes perfect for shooting some small movies to edit and play on my 4k tv, a great feature is the camera button half press focuses your subject and full press clicks the image.

the display tho is gorgeous performs well in daylight and has crisp blacks and natural colors and a really good white balance that you need not calibrate.

On my first charge, I managed about 6hrs 20 minutes of screen on time and on my second charge I manage some 7hrs odd screen on time with 14 hrs since unplugged. Both times I surfed the net used location services WhatsApp mails and about an hour of youtube and 15 mins of gaming all with stamina mode activated.

Performance wise I have found no lags besides WhatsApp crashing twice. Web browsing is lag free even when browsing pages with a lot of high-res images.

now to summarize.

The good:

• Impressive display(4k only works in album and videos, the screen is full HD 1080p otherwise to save battery)



• Amazing battery performance



• Does not heat up



• Nonlaggy performance



• The camera has potentials provided you experiment and do your best.



• Great low light performance



• Amazing speakers.



• Fingerprint sensor works well



• Looks amazing



• Fast charge times



• water proof to an extent

The bad

• the body is glossy and can slide off your hand.



• The camera lacks raw support and OIS and also a full manual mode.



• Sony is slow with updates.



• Not a good set of headphones considering the price of the phone and the phone being advertised as having the best sound namely hi-res.



• Too much bloatware.