Canon have today announced the Canon EOS 7D – a widely rumored camera that has caused a lot of discussion around the web in the past few weeks as pictures of it began to surface.

The Canon EOS 7D is being presented as a new model line for Canon – not an update of another camera in the range it’s certainly above the Canon EOS 50D in terms of features but seems to be positioned alongside the Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

The Canon EOS 7D has an 18 megapixel APS-C CMOS image sensor, has dual DIGIC 4 processors and shoots at up to 8 frames per second (for up to 15 RAW or 126 JPEG images), has an ISO range of 100-6400 (and up to 12800 in custom functions), new 63 zone dual layer color sensitive metering and a new phase detection auto focus sensor with 19 f/5.6 sensors and 1 X-type f.2.8 sensor in the center of the frame.

The EOS 7D comes with a popup flash which can be used to control other wireless flashes, PC sync connector and hot shoe. It has a 3.0 inch LCD display and shoots Full HD videos.

The Canon EOS 7D will be available in September 2009 and will have a recommended retail price of $1700 USD (body only). It is already available for Pre-Order on Amazon.

Sony today have announced their newest DSLR camera – the Sony A850 DSLR – a full frame DSLR that is set to put the pressure on Sony’s competitors when it comes to price.

The Sony A850 has a recommended retail price of around $2000 USD – around $500 cheaper than Nikon’s D700, Canon’s 5D Mark II and Sony’s own A900.

The A850’s features include a 24.6 megapixel sensor, 3.0 inch LCD, 9 point Auto focusing (with 10 supplemental assist auto focus points), shutter speed of up to 1/8000 second, 3 frames per second shooting in continuous shooting mode and ISO up to 6400.

To go with the Sony A850 Sony today also released a new lens – the 28-75mm f/2.8 at around $800 (model number SAL2875).

The Sony A850 will be available in September and the new 28-75mm lens will be available from November 2009. The A850 is already available for pre-order on Amazon for $1999.99 USD.

To sit happily with the company’s flagship and much higher-priced DSLR the Olympus E-30 had to forgo a few bells and whistles — but then it added a few that should delight photographers with high ambitions but little skill.

The Olympus E-30 has 12.3 million pixels on its Live MOS sensor — two megapixels and a bit more than the E-3!

The E-30 is smaller and lighter than many maker’s top end models… that’s how Olympus does things. With relatively few external controls, the LCD menu options will take you pretty well anywhere you want to go.

Using the Four Thirds system you can attach lenses from companies such as Leica, Panasonic and Sigma… oh and Olympus of course!

Olympus E-30 Features

Live View is available on the 6.9 …

Copyright Robert S. Donovan

“Just delete the photos you don’t want,” one friend suggests when you ask what to do when you’ve finished downloading a memory card to your computer.

“No, no. You want to format it in the camera to be safe,” chimes in another

And still a third friend offers, “What’s best is low level formatting, if you camera offers it.”

For a lot of people starting out in digital photography, all these bits of advice can seem both conflicting and confusing.  What is low level and why is it better?  What happens if I just delete?  And will anyone make fun of me if I do the ‘wrong’ thing?

First, let me belay the last question.  We are all here to learn and at some point or another everyone faces this question.  So don’t sweat not knowing because this post will help set the record straight on how each method works.  It’s my hope you will then be able to speak intelligently about the different methods and use that knowledge for the greater good of digital photographers everywhere.

For the techies out there, I suggest you look away from this next part.  I’m going to over simplify things a bit in order to make sure the basics of data storage are understood.  I’m not going to get into bits and bytes and instead try to make this post accessible for all.  And for the sake of argument, we’ll assume all digital cameras function essentially the same when it comes to card formatting, etc… while admitting different models and brands do things ever so slightly differently.  That’s not really in the scope of this post either.

Sitting in the middle of Canon’s seven model range, the Canon EOS T1i (Canon EOS 500D in some parts of the world) should service the ambitions of the eager amateur and budget-conscious semi-pro. It is possibly a little too restrictive for full-flight pros.

I used the review camera with the 18-55mm and 55-250mm stabilised kit lenses. I figure this is nearly an ideal package. The CMOS sensor measures 22.3×14.9, so you multiply the focal length of each optic by 1.6x, to give a 35 SLR lens comparison. The two lenses gives you an effective SLR range of 29 to 400mm. Some may find that the 29mm wide end a little too limiting, so this is where you shell out for a nice wide — and expensive! — EF 14mm lens (SLR equiv: 22mm).