Design

The bag is made of soft but sturdy canvas and has a very comfortable nylon shoulder strap. The 3 internal compartments and 2 pockets offer plenty of places to pack things and thanks to the bright interior colours, you’ll be able to find your things later as well. The Hoxton is available in beige, grey, green and brown with matching interior fabric colours.

Yay!

The bag is fairly simple – in a good way. There aren’t thousands of internal compartments with subdivisions to get stuff lost in, it’s just a well though out bag for everyday use.

It’s nice and light, so it’s comfortable to wear for long periods of time. It’s also not too bulky and fits easily underneath the seats on a plane or on your lap if you’re on public transport.

A magnet keeps the bag shut and two front slip pockets with headphone cable flaps allow you to get at your music player or phone without digging around inside the bag.

I was afraid the light beige colour option I picked would get dirty easily, but after several weeks of being dragged to Brussels, Hamburg and all around Munich, it still looks great.

Meh…

The overall quality feels very good, however I did notice the zipper on the back compartement came apart once or twice. But since it’s an internal zipper, it’s not a real worry.

Conclusion

I really like this bag. It’s a bit too small for most notebook computers, but in a pinch I can fit my MacBook Air in it. But it’s perfect for an iPad, camera and the other bits and bobs I usally lug around.

It’s more of a “lifestyle” bag than a computer bag, but for those of you that have embraced the iPad way of computing, the TinTac Hoxton is highly recommended.

At £40 / €47 / $60, it’s great value for money and I could see this bag being a popular gift this holiday season.

TinTac Hoxton website

Well the Eye-Fi cards promise to have a better solution for copying photos: these cards can transfer your digital snaps wirelessly. Yep – despite being the same size as a normal SD card, an Eye-Fi card can connect to your computer over a wifi network. Let’s take a closer look at the Eye-Fi Pro | X2 – their latest and greatest.

Getting started

You need to download special Eye-Fi software for the initial setup. You connect your Eye-Fi card to the supplied USB adapter and configure it to connect to your existing wireless network, or you can either have it create its own ad-hoc network for when you’re on the move.

Then, just pop the card into your camera and away you go.

How to use the Eye-Fi card

The Eye-Fi card works just like any other fast SD card. Pop it in your camera, take pictures (RAW or JPEG or both) and movies – that’s it.

Once your camera has been on a few seconds, the Eye-Fi card will power up its wireless feature and look for your existing network. Once connected, the special Eye-Fi software on your computer will copy the photos over the air onto your PC or Mac.

If you haven’t got a wireless network nearby, the card can alternatively create its own wireless network. You connect to this network (named something like “Eye-Fi 132456″) and then the copying magic starts.

Performance

Despite having pretty impressive wireless performance, it will take a bit longer to copy the huge files produced by today’s modern cameras over wifi than it would over a USB card reader. However, you can optionally choose to only copy your JPEG images, leaving your RAW copies on the card ready to by copied over USB later.

The software is an Adobe Air app, so it isn’t the best Mac app I’ve ever seen, but overall it isn’t too bad. Once you have your card configured, you won’t need to use it too much anyway. Kudos to Eye-Fi for having a cross-platform solution for us Mac users that works.

Other handy tricks

Geotagging

Certain Eye-Fi cards can also make use of the wireless chip inside to geo-tag your photos. They do this by looking at nearby wifi networks. These are later matched by the Eye-Fi software to a database that knows the geographical location of tonnes of wifi networks around the world and uses that to give your photos a rough geographical location.
It’s not perfect, but it’s usually good enough to help you figure out which side of town you took a particular photo.

Endless Memory

Need to take a ton of pictures? No problem! If you’re on a wifi network, your Eye-Fi card will shove pics over to your computer and free up storage for new pictures, which means you’ll never run out of storage. This is only useful for certain scenarios, but if you need to take a lot of pictures and don’t want to have to switch cards it might come in useful.

Picture uploads

I didn’t test this feature, but Eye-Fi also offers an online storage and sync option, that allows you to share pictures with friends or between devices.

iPad app

One other great feature is the fact that you can use the Eye-Fi card with the free companion iPad app, allowing you to use your iPad as a giant photo preview screen: snap a shot, wait 2 seconds and it shows up on the iPad. I used this feature to turn my iPad and a camera with an Eye-Fi card into a rudimentary homemade wedding photo booth.

Conclusion

If you just need to grab a few photos quickly, the Eye-Fi a great solution. I could see it being particularly useful in scenarios where you’re frequently taking a small number of shots and need to quickly preview them on a larger screen.

The geo-tagging feature is also quite nice and a good alternative to using geo-tagged iPhone pictures as a reference.

The Eye-Fi Pro | X2 does exactly what it claims. The wireless performance is pretty good and it can be a huge timesaver if you often need to preview your pictures in between shots.

Recommended

Waterfield bags are designed to be very tough (not surprising as the company was founded by a former bicycle messenger), so I was keen to take a closer look at the Waterfield Cargo bag.

Features

The Waterfield Cargo looks like fairly typical messenger-style bag at first. It has a shoulder strap, front flap and a buckle. But there are ton of nifty design touches that make the bag very practical in everyday use:

• The top zip makes it easy to get stuff from the main compartment without lifting up the main flap
• The interior fabric is a bright colour, that makes it easy to find things inside
• The back pocket is great for your iPad or a folder with papers

Design

This bag looks pretty good, but the design isn’t the main reason you’d buy this bag. It’s a very functional design and it’s“tidy” enough to take into any office, without looking too corporate.

You can also customise the look quite a bit by choosing various trim and colour options.

Quality and Durability

Waterfield state that the bag was inspired by ruggedized bike messenger accessories and it certainly feels every bit as durable as its heritage. The nylon fabric is extremely tough and feels much more durable than the fabrics used on similar products from other well-known manufacturer’s bags I’ve owned.

This is how much I can easily fit in the Waterfield Cargo:

Contents of my bag

As I mentioned at the outset, I plan on commuting by bike quite a bit with this bag, so I want something that can be strapped to the back of a bike rack and withstand a bit of wear and tear. So far, the Waterfield Cargo has been more than up to the challenge: Despite being bumped around on the back of a bike for several weeks, kicked around on the floor of the subway and dragged halfway across Malaysia on my honeymoon, it still looks like new. Any dirt or muck you get on the bag easily brushes off, and all the seams and zips are rock solid.

Bonus Round

There’s a lot to like about this bag, but here are a few extra tidbits I particularly like:

• The strap can easily being adjusted just by lifting an adjustment flap at the side, but it doesn’t accidently lift or slip
• Underneath the front flap are two slim pockets that are almost hidden – perfect for storing your passport or other valuables somewhere hard to access while travelling.
• The interior pockets don’t get in your way, so you can use the space inside the bag to the fullest.
• If you do need extra compartments, the Sleevecase accessory is perfect for documents and laptops (it has two compartments, perfect for a MacBook and iPad), while the Cablepouch is great for all your accessories and cables:

Conclusion

At $189, the Waterfield Cargo is certainly one of the more expensive laptop bags out there. But this Waterfield bag, which was handmade in San Francisco, is extremely well made with high-quality materials used throughout, so I’d argue that the price is more than justified. If you’ve got a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air you’re carrying around, it’s worth investing in a good bag to protect it.

Unlike other messenger bags that I’ve owned, that have all started to fall apart at the seams after a few months of owning them, this bag feels as though it will give me a good few years of use.

The attention to detail and everyday practicality is very obvious — someone really thought about every aspect of this bag while designing it – and it is very versatile, equally useful as a travel bag for longer journeys or as a daily bag for the office.

Overall, highly recommended.

I started thinking and thought it would be cool to have a setup that would allow people to see their snaps rights away, without having to go around to the camera itself. With a DSLR that supports remote control from a laptop, that is fairly easy to set up, but as it turned out, my cameras don’t support remote control over USB. So I started looking into alternatives and soon hit on the idea of using an EyeFi card and my iPad. (A few weeks after I started planning our photo booth, a story popped up on Engadget about a similar, albeit more professional, setup.)

What you’ll need

• A digital camera with remote shutter release (I used the Panasonic GF-1 with a cheap wireless remote shutter release from eBay)
• An EyeFi SD card in the camera (make sure it’s a newer EyeFi card with support for “direct mode”)
• An iPad connected to the EyeFi network running the free EyeFi app
• A tall tripod
• A table or stand of some kind for the iPad
• (optional) A frame, backdrop or props of some kind for guests to pose with

Camera, remote shutter, iPad and EyeFi card

The photo booth setup – the iPad is just off to the side on a table

One of the snaps from the photo booth

Other Tips

I had been on the lookout for the Panasonic 20mm prime lens, as it’s considered to be one of the best Micro Four-Third lenses out there. When I spotted a package deal that offered the 20mm lens with the GF-1, I couldn’t resist. Although both the GF-1 and E-PL1 have both been succeeded by newer models, I thought I’d share my impressions after using the GF-1 for about two weeks.

Advantage GF-1

• Autofocus lamp
• Build quality
• Screen resolution
• Jog wheel
• Custom settings dial
• Remote shutter

The GF-1 had a substantially higher retail price than the E-PL1, so its superior build quality is to be expected. While the E-PL1 can certainly survive a bump or two, it does feel quite plasticky and cheap when compared with the GF-1, which has a metal body and rock-solid switches.

The screen resolution on the GF-1 is higher than that of the E-PL1, which loooks very grainy in low light. And speaking of low light, none of the Olympus M4/3 cameras have a focus-assist lamp (that annoying orange lamp you’ll find on every cheap point and shoot camera). This means that they are terrible at focusing in low light situations whereas the GF-1, which does have a focus-assist lamp, has no problems at all. I have no idea why Olympus refuses to add an AF assist feature to their M4/3 cameras, but after a few weeks with the GF-1, I really do miss it on the E-PL1.

The other features are nice to have, but wouldn’t necessarily convince me to get one over the other – although the remote shutter feature will come in handy this summer, where I plan on rigging up an iPad photo-booth contraption (like this one) at our wedding.

Advantage E-PL1

• In-body image stabilisation
• Slightly smaller & cheaper
• Bounce flash
• Better grip
• More accessory options (external audio)

Part of the attraction of the M4/3 cameras are the large number of cheap “legacy” lenses you can use on them with appropriate adapters. Old Nikon, Konica and numerous other old 35mm lenses can be bought cheaply on eBay and used with a M4/3 camera. The sensor size is well suited for them and the old lenses offer great optical quality at bargain prices (provided you’re willing to focus manually).

Panasonic’s M4/3 cameras forego a built-in image stabilisation feature, as Panasonic prefers to use in-lens stabilisation instead.  The E-PL1 however has a sensor stabilisation feature, that will work with any lens – even old legacy lenses. This is quite useful to have, particularly when using longer focal lengths or when shooting at low light.

The E-PL1 also has a slightly better grip to it and its built-in flash can be pointed to the ceiling or just above your subject, allowing you to avoid overly bright direct flash in your images.

It is also often said that Olympus cameras produce nicer JPEGs that require less post-processing – something which I am also keen to avoid for casual shots, if it can be helped. So far, I would tend to agree that the colours and white balance in my E-PL1 shots are usually better than the GF-1, where I’m still experimenting with different settings and options.

Conclusion

Both cameras have their merit and I haven’t yet been able to make up my mind which one I want to keep.

The GF-1 is certainly more versatile, particularly in low-light settings, but to really get the most out of the body you may want to to invest in Panasonic’s more expensive M4/3 lenses with in-lens stabilization. The camera also feels much more solid and nicer to use as a whole.

The E-PL1 has a certain cheap and cheerful charm to it: the design and construction are certainly never going to win any prizes and its quirky menu and buttons don’t exactly inspire confidence. But after using it for half a year, I can attest to its ruggedness and it’s a really solid camera that delivers great shots every time you take it out – provided you don’t need fast focusing in low-light situations. It’s also hard to beat on a budget.

Enter the Dodocase for iPad 2 – a hand-made, book-like case with an elegant wooden frame. The DodoCase has a moleskine-like design and elegantly encloses your entire iPad like a hardback book. On the right side of the book sits a wooden frame that has special cutouts for the iPad, while the left has a trademark ownership label and customiseable colour  lining.

Likes

Protection
The DodoCase is great for toting your iPad around inside any old bag and you don’t have to worry about the Smart Cover sliding off and it getting scratched or dented.

Look and feel
The case itself looks great and it’s quite nice to carry around. It’s fairly easy to get the iPad in and out of the DodoCase, with squishy corner fasteners making sure that it stays firmly in place. The wooden frame has cutouts that allow access to the connection ports and right-hand controls and an elastic band ensures the lid stays firmly shut. It’s also comfortable to use your iPad while it’s in the case (particularly in landscape mode), but it’s also fairly easy to take it out if you need to.

Weight
The bamboo used to construct the DodoCase is really light, so despite its considerable size (see below), it doesn’t add much weight to the iPad at all. Since I usually take my iPad with me when I want to avoid lugging a heavy laptop, this was quite important to me.

Dislikes

Magnets

I’ll start with a big one: no magnets. The DodoCase for iPad 2 does not support the iPad’s sleep/wake if cover is opened feature, which is quite disappointing for a case that isn’t exactly cheap. You can however jerryrig your own solution by sticking a slim fridge magnet in the right spot of the cover, but I would have assumed that  wake-on-open support would be a no-brainer for this type of product. The FAQ on the DodoCase website seems to hint that future versions of the DodoCase will have magnet support though, so it may be worth checking back in the near future.

Stand
If you flip the cover over, the case will also prop your iPad up a bit, giving you a better angle for typing. However the Smart Cover has a slightly higher angle. You can also stand the DodoCase upright , but unless you have a sufficiently grippy surface, the whole affair is a bit wobbly – the Smart Cover wins again here.

Size
While the DodoCase does add quite a bit of protection for your iPad, it does feel unnecessarily large, compared to the thin and sleek design of the iPad 2. The case is roughly 2,2cm thick when closed, which is 2,5x thicker than the iPad. When the iPad is inside the case, there looks to be a bit of space between the back of the iPad and the case, which seems unnecessary.

Conclusion

The DodoCase for iPad 2 is a great-looking case that is really well made. If you mainly plan on using your iPad around the house, I would probably stick with the Smart Cover, simply because it is more convenient. But if you plan on taking your iPad out a lot, the DodoCase is a great and stylish alternative to getting a bag with a laptop pouch.

Sparrow first caught a lot of attention last year when the initial public beta was released. I have to admit, I was quite skeptical after a first look: it seemed like a weird rip-off of Tweetie for Mac combined with everything I disliked about the Gmail web interface.

But the final 1.0 release has really won me over. Sparrow gets rid of the visual clutter caused by lists of folders, unread count badges etc. and puts your email front and center.

Thanks to its robust support for Gmail’s ‘labels that kind of work like folders’ system, label-fans as well as users that prefer a more traditional organization with folders will feel right at home.

The quick reply feature shows a small reply box just above a message, instead of opening a new window. By encouraging users to bang out quick one and two line replies, I found myself clearing emails from my inbox faster and getting distractions out of the way.
   

I currently use Sparrow for all of my private and blog emails, however for work emails I currently still rely on Mail.app. Part of the reason that Sparrow works so well is probably because so much of the heavy lifting is taken care of by Gmail: It has all my filters, labels, aliases all set up. It’ll be interesting to see how well Sparrow fares with regular IMAP accounts that require the email client app to offer more in terms of email management.

##Likes
- Clean, no-fuss interface
- Encourages quick, immediate replies
- Growl integration
- Support for multiple Gmail aliases

##Caveats
- Only supports Gmail accounts at the moment (although full IMAP support is promised for March)
- “Missing” features such as automatic image resizing, client-side filtering, multiple signatures, etc. (could also be seen as a feature)

##Conclusion
If you’re looking for a full-featured, kitchen-sink type email client, Sparrow probably isn’t for you. But if you want something to use with Gmail, that gets out of the way and lets you get your inbox cleaned up, Sparrow is definitely worth checking out!

#The short version

## The good
- Really fun to use
- Just about small enough to take with you most of the time
- Wide selection of micro 4/3 lenses
- Compatible with huge numbers of cheap(-ish) legacy lenses
- Images don’t require any post-processing or messing about with RAW if that’s not your thing
- Built-in flash  – can even be bounced
- Very affordable

## The bad
- Build quality not quite as good as competitors
- Autofocus a little bit slower than the Panasonic GF1 and Sony NEX-3
- Low resolution screen
- You’ll want a good pancake lens to really benefit from the compact size – which will add considerably to the price

#Body & Build

On first impression it seems obvious how Olympus managed to trim almost $400 off the price of the E-P1 or E-P2: The E-PL1 feels a lot cheaper than its metal-clad PEN siblings. That first impression isn’t helped by the mushy buttons and low screen resolution, which both make it feel quite cheap, especially when compared to the luxurious fit and finish of Sony’s NEX-3.

But first impressions can be misleading: whilst the quality of the materials isn’t quite as high as on some other cameras, the E-PL1 still feels very solid and sturdy – despite the plastic. There’s no squeakiness and despite a few knocks, the body still looks as great as it does when I first got it. Olympus also seem to have invested a bit more in the controls that really count – the shutter release button and mode dial.

The camera isn’t as amazingly thin as the Nex-3, but this is still a very small micro DSLR. By losing a bit of the bulk of the E-P1, the camera feels considerably more portable and if you use it with a pancake lens, it will easily fit into a (large) jacket pocket. The hand grip on the right side of the body makes the camera confortable to hold and since it is so light, one-handed shots are easily pulled off as well.

The design of the body isn’t spectacular, but it does remind me of the type of cameras I used to see growing up. Combine the looks with the unintentionally dated looking interface that Olympus includes, it’s quite a charming camera.

#Controls
Looking past the mushiness of the buttons on the E-PL1, getting to grips with the actual controls can be a little bit challenging as well. Whilst the E-P1 and E-P2 both have dual jog-wheel controllers that allow you to quickly adjust values and navigate menus, the E-PL1 is saddled with a four-way directional control schema. Adjusting things like exposure, shutter time etc. takes a bit longer because of this and it decreases the amount of experimentation you’ll likely do as a result.

If you plan on using iAuto mode, Olympus has included a feature that they call “Live Guide”, which makes it much easier to adjust things such as colour saturation, motion blur or background focus. This allows anyone to create interesting photographic effects, without actually having to know all that much about photography priciples such as shutter speed or aperture. These controls are just one or two button pushes away, but would be even more convenient with a jog dial.

Setting other values in manual modes requires a push up on the directional controller and then up-down or left-right presses to adjust aperture and shutter speed. Not too bad, but again not quite as convenient as the jog wheels found on other micro DSLRs.

One fantastic feature is the ability to customise the fn and video recording buttons on the E-PL1. You’ll need to dive into the advanced menus to do so, but the firmware will allow you to assign one of 6 commonly used features to either of those two buttons. This lets you access the features you use most often with just the push of a button.
The placement of the one-touch video recording button has been criticised by some, as the button is prone to accidental presses. I only really had this issue once or twice whilst wearing gloves, but you can disable the button entirely using the customisation feature, making it a non issue.

The whole menu looks very 1980s with its blue and yellow colour scheme and low-resolution icon, but you can’t beat it for customisability and the features you’ll need the most often are just a few button presses away, so it’s definitely a case of function over form.

##Everyday use
Despite some of compromises the E-PL1 makes, it is hard to describe how much fun this camera is to use when you actually get out with it. It is compact enough to take it with you, even if you’re not sure you’ll need a camera. It’s nice and responsive eough to fire off quick snapshots, but also allows you to get a bit more creative if you’re feeling artsy. I also found it interesting that people who usually feel initimidated by a DSLR felt right at home picking up the E-PL1 and taking pictures.

The shoulder strap works really well with the E-PL1 and you hardly notice the weight of the camera at all when walking around with it. I’ve taken it to the Tollwood arts festival here in Munich and even on a bike trip and around town without any problems. Several times I’ve had to check to see if I still have it.

##Autofocus
Some criticism has been aimed at the autofocus feature on the PEN series cameras and that is definitely not their strong suit. Unlike full-sized DSLR cameras that use a phase-detection autofocus system, Micro Four-Thirds cameras use a contrast-based autofocus like the kind that is usually found on point and shoot cameras. The phase-detection system is what allows cameras like the Canon EOS / Digital Rebel series to focus almost instantaneously, whereas the PEN has to hunt & peck to find the focus sweet spot. This means you sometimes lose a few precious seconds while the E-PL1 attempts to focus on certain objects, especially in low-light situations. It certainly doesn’t happen often enough to be a showstopper, but it’s worth keeping in mind if you plan on taking a lot of low light or fast moving shots.

##Art Filters
The E-PL1 offers 8 Art filters that are applied instantly to your shots or video. Of course, you could achieve similar effects with other cameras using post-processing software, but it’s quite inspiring to see an effect applied to your shot before you have even taken it, and might give you inspiration for a shot you wouldn’t have taken otherwise.

The filters greatly slow down the refresh rate on the screen though and whilst they can be applied in video mode as well, the reduced frame rate makes most of the filters unsuitable for video.

One exception is the diorama mode, which will give your videos a timelapse-like effect, so if you plan on filming from a fixed perspective, that mode is worth playing with.

##Flash
The lack of a built-in flash on the E-P1, E-P2 and Sony Nex cameras really limits their use as an allround camera and whilst you can use external flash modules with their hot shoes, I imagine this is fairly offputting for many casual users.

The flash on the E-PL1 is great: you can choose from a number of flash timings and the E-PL1 will also use the flash for focus assistance in certain lighting conditions.
One particularly nice touch is the ability to use the flash in a “bounce” position: Because the flash is raised on a little arm mechanism, you can pull it back to point the flash up towards the ceiling. By doing so, the flash will bounce off the ceiling, illuminating your subject but without the shadows and red eyes typically seen in flash shots.

You can’t lock the flash into the bounce position (it’s not even clear if this was an intentional design decision or a lucky accident), but it’s easy to hold it back with your left index finger whilst shooting.

##Legacy Lenses
Micro Four Thirds cameras can be used with old analog lenses, such as the Konika Hexanon or Olympus OM series of lenses, provided you have the correct adapter. Whilst you will lose convenient features like autofocus capability and aperture adjustment, both of these can be manually adjusted using controls on the lens. But why would you want to bother using an old manual lens? Well, there are quite a few of these lenses being sold on eBay and a you can buy some pretty impressive lenses for well under $50. An adapter will set you back about $20-50, depending on the kind you need. And whilst the modern micro 4/3 lenses are great to use, nothing can quite beat manually adjusting aperture and focus on a well made lens from the 70s or 80s.

You’ll want to switch to aperture priority mode, as this is usually set on the lens itself, leaving shutter speed (and the correct exposure) up to the camera. Legacy lenses force you to learn a little bit of camera theory and will help you to better understand some of the concepts behind the PASM modes, which is good if you’re just getting started like I am.

## Video mode
The E-PL1 will record 720p video at 30fps, which doesn’t sound so impressive now that your average smartphone probably has similar video specs.

But the E-PL1 gives you full control over your video shots, allowing you to choose between continuous or manual focus, aperture values etc. This gives users the ability to achieve some really creative video shots, more reminiscent of a motion picture than a wobbly home movie. Of course – most of us will end up with wobbly (albeit high-resolution) video that looks like it was shot while jumping up and down, but at least the camera is capable of more.

Here’s a quick, unedited clip I shot using the Hexanon 52mm lens with manual focus (so it keeps getting blurry is because I’m messing with the focus wheel, not because the camera is hunting for focus). It gives you a pretty good idea of the low-light capabilities of the camera in movie mode, as well as the audio quality – bear in mind though that it was quite windy on that particular night):
[video src="http://jetplanejournal.com/jetplanejournal/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Tunnel-near-Laim.m4v" width="640" height="360"]

#Conclusion
The E-PL1 is a great intermediate camera: it offers manual controls, interchangable lenses and decent image quality in a considerably smaller package than your typical DSLR. Your choice of lenses is much better than on the Sony NEX series and the price tag is quite a bit lower than the Panasonic GF1 or Olympus E-P2.

While it doesn’t offer quite the same level of image quality as a full-sized DSLR, comparisons have shown that the sensor is nearly as good as APS-C sized sensors at low ISO levels. In fact, DPReview claims:

[...] the 4/3 sensor is competitive (but overall not necessarily better than) APS-C sensors with its 12MP PEN E-PL1 model being independently tested to out-resolve 15MP APS-C based competitor cameras and even matching an 18MP APS-C SLR camera model in actual resolution and high ISO detail rendering.

The built-in flash also means that the E-PL1 is flexible enough to be used for casual photography as well, something the E-P1, E-P2 and Sony NEX all lack (the optional flash modules are too cumbersome to be really useful in my opinion).

I believe this is currently one of the best cameras around for a photography enthusiast looking to make the jump up to a “proper” camera, with the Gf1 being the only other (considerably more expensive) option I would seriously consider.

In fact, the E-PL1 was good enough that a few days after returning my review unit to Olympus, I had to order one for myself.

Support the site and buy your very own E-PL1 at Amazon:
E-PL1 at Amazon.com
E-PL1 at Amazon.de
E-PL1 at Amazon.co.uk

Sony were kind enough to loan me a NEX-3 for a fortnight recently, so I’ve put this intriguing new camera through its paces.

*Note:* I’m most definitely an amateur when it comes to photography, so this review will focus aspects that someone upgrading from a compact camera might look for.

#Body and Build

The NEX-3 has a very compact body. In fact, if you remove the lens, the body itself isn’t much bigger than most compact cameras and is quite a bit smaller than traditional bridge cameras such as the Canon G11.

The NEX-3 compared to the Panasonic TZ-3

The NEX-3 compared to the original iPhone

Once you attach the kit lens, a lot of this size advantage is lost, as the lens itself is several times deeper than the camera body. However Sony also offer a 16mm “pancake-style” lens, that is quite a bit slimmer than the kit lens, making it almost pocketable. Considering the NEX-3 has a APS-C-sized sensor (which is the same type of sensor you’ll usually find in large DSLRs such as the Canon EOS-600D / Digital Rebel TSi series), it’s an amazingly small package for such a tiny body.

The huge APS-C sensor inside the NEX-3

The build quality of the NEX-3 is quite nice overall. The body itself is a hard plastic with a metallic-looking finish. The lens barrel is constructed entirely out of metal and feels very solid indeed.

Even moveable components such as the articulating display and battery and memory card compartments feel very sturdy and you get the impression that this camera could survive a fair bit of wear and tear.

##Controls and buttons

The NEX-3 has just 5 buttons and 1 jog-dial which which you’re supposed to control everything. While this may sound positively oppulent to Apple users, the NEX-3 could actually use a few extra to be really useable:

My biggest issue was the lack of a mode-dial: you need to hit menu, select the mode options and then turn the jog wheel. Ironically, this option then gives you an on-screen visualisation of – a mode dial wheel!

This is mitigated somewhat by the dedicated video recording and playback buttons, but given the choice, I’d much prefer to have a fast way to switch between the iAuto, scene and PASM settings.

#Articulating screen

This is a feature I didn’t think I’d use much – but in practise it really does come in handy and allows you to take pictures from some interesting angles. The hinge feels very sturdy and when you fold the display back, you almost can’t tell that it’s adjustable.

#Performance

Overall I was very impressed with the camera. It takes great pictures with the automatic settings, which will be what most users buy this camera for. Switch it on, point it at your subject and snap away.

Occasionally I experienced minor issues with the auto-focus being a little bit slow or with blown out highlights, but generally speaking I was quite impressed by the results.

#Features of Note

*Auto-stitching*

Sony has included a nifty feature, that allows you to hold the camera at arm’s length and pan around to create panorama images. What sounds terribly gimmicky actually works pretty well in practise. You hold the camera up and an arrow on screen tells you how to move your arm. I basically just held it up and spun around without looking at the screen at all.

The results are pretty good:

While stitching is pretty seamless (no pun intended!) with the software that is available nowadays, it’s nice not to have that extra step and the in-camera software does a nice job of straightening and aligning the images.

*Defocus Background*

This is a new feature that several Micro-DSLRs have introduced this year. It basically enables you to shoot images with lots of bokeh, without having to bother with focal lengths, aperture or other photography concepts.

This feaure works mostly as advertised: you point the camera at your subject and turn the dial to sharpen or defocus the background of the image, leaving the camera to figure out the rest.

The "Defocus background" menu

This is the type of feature that encourages amateurs by allowing them to take “pro-looking” photos fairly easily. You would think this is the sort of feature that would act as a stepping stone to more serious experimentation with the manual controls of the camera, but unfortunately the NEX-3 doesn’t tell you what values it’s changing to achieve the effect, so you can’t easily re-create it using the manual controls, unless you know what you’re doing.

#Flash

Like the Olympus E-P1 and E-P2, the NEX-3 lacks an onboard flash. However, unlike the bulky flash modules Olympus offers seperately, Sony includes a small external flash module, that is small enough to leave attached to the camera for longer periods of time. It uses a clever folding design that makes it fairly inconspicuous when attached to the camera. However, it’s a bit fiddly to attach and a built-in flash would have been preferable.

# Accessories and compatibility

As this is a brand new Sony device category, there isn’t a huge selection of accessories and lenses just yet: The NEX-3 works with Sony E-mount lenses (other lenses can be fitted with an adapter, but will not support autofocus) and the smart shoe for flash modules and other accessories is also proprietary. However, as this camera is clearly aimed at a first-time DSLR buyer, that’s unlikely to be an issue for most users and the current selection of peripherals will undoubtedly continue to grow in the near future.

Whilst the bottom of the camera proudly displays the Sony Memory Stick logo, the camera also accepts standard SD cards, so you’ll be able to re-use your exisiting memory cards.

#Conclusion

The Sony Alpha NEX-3 is a fantastic camera for photographers looking to move beyond the capabilities of a point & shoot camera, without going all out and getting a “real” DSLR. The easy-to-use menus and helpful features like Background defocus give novice users the benefits of using a camera with an APS-C-sized sensor without the complexity and bulk of a DSLR.

It’s questionable whether the extreme miniturization of the body was really worth the effort, considering the size of the kit lens, however it’s still an impressively compact package that you’ll be able to take nearly anywhere.

Considering this is Sony’s first foray into the “Micro-DSLR” market, this is a fantastic first offering. The NEX-3 offers great overall value for money and is aggressively priced compared to other Micro-DSLR style cameras, whilst boasting the largest sensor seen so far in this class. It’s worth serious consideration if you’re in the market for a compact camera that can shoot excellent images.

Interested in the Sony Alpha NEX? Suppor the site and check it out at Amazon:

Sony NEX-3

Sony NEX -5

I often find myself sharing screenshots with colleagues and friends. There are a ton of applications out there that will help you do this, but most of them rely on you taking a screenshot and dragging it to another application.

GrabBox is a free app that lets you share a screenshot whilst skipping that second step: just take a screenshot and it will automatically add it to your public Dropbox folder and creates a short url for you to share with friends. It puts that url on your clipboard so you can paste it right away.

Here’s a clip of GrabBox in action:

[video src="movies/GrabBox.mov" width="640" height="400" options="controls autobuffer" id="vid-1"]

What I love most is that I don’t need to change my workflow: I just hit the regular OS X keyboard shortcut to take a screenshot and GrabBox does the rest: snap, paste, done.

The ugly icon, and the fact that it runs in your Dock instead of your menubar are two minor gripes, but overall it’s highly recommended!