(Picture: EF200mm f/2L IS USM lens)

The EF800mm f/5.6L IS USM and the EF200mm f/2L IS USM are professional L-Series lenses that incorporate the latest generation of Canon’s high-performance Optical Image Stabilizer system, giving them a stabilization effect equivalent to a shutter speed four settings faster. In addition, they feature optical systems utilizing fluorite and UD lens elements to provide excellent chromatic aberration correction for high-resolution, high-contrast shooting performance.

(Picture: the EF800mm f/5.6L IS USM lens)

The new Canon EF200mm f/2L IS USM is scheduled to be available in April at an estimated retail price of 5,999(USD) and the new Canon EF800mm f/5.6L IS USM is scheduled to be available in May for an estimated retail price of 11,999 USD. Both lenses use only lead-free glass, and also incorporate lightweight yet durable magnesium alloy lens barrels with enhanced resistance to moisture and dust.

If you are planning to buy a digital camera then this is the right time as this is the festival season and you can get some good offers. Ok that was money wise, on the technical part what you should look in a camera are as follows:

Brand and color reproduction: I have seen that every brand of camera has its own characteristic color reproduction. Nikon and Sony has a good natural color reproduction while that of fujitsu is faded type and not at all lively. In Kodak colors are not natural looking and image have color noise. Pentax produces good image tones. Canon produces vibrant colors and lively but not so natural looking. Casio quality is somewhat like that of fujitsu but much better. What you should do that before selecting the brand; you should look at sample photographs and decide which camera is for you.

Zoom: Never ever go for a camera that shows huge digital zoom capability. It’s almost useless. What’s important is Optical zoom. Higher the optical zoom, better is the camera.

MegaPixel: Anything above 3.2MP CCD (cmos/vga is not good) is good for home use if the camera has a good optical zoom capability and uses good quality lens.

Battery: This is very important. Always buy a digital camera which runs on two AAA size pencil battery and can also run on CRV3. Why? A CRV3 battery is a lithium ion battery which is available at quite low cost and offer excellent backup compared to Ni-MH batteries. But as you all know, rechargeable batteries can go down anytime (especially in winter) and if you are outside and cannot recharge the battery then you can just go to any shop and buy two alkaline batteries and continue with your photography work. At least you don’t get struck. In those cameras which have mobile phone type rechargeable batteries, users are left with no option to go home and wait for hours till the battery get charged.

Olympus Korea announced the launch of its top level DSLR camera ‘E-3’ and its new DSLR lenses in Korea market.

The E-3 has a 10.1M Live MOS sensor along with Olympus’ TruePic III digital processing engine. Fitted with 11 AF Full Twin Cross Sensor, the E-3 Digital SLR delivers the best AF speed in the world with the new Zuiko Digital Specific SWD 12-60mm lens. Supporting 5 frames-per-second nonstop shooting and 1/8000 second top shutter speed, it features a dual-axis swivel 2.5-inch Live View LCD covering all the viewing angles from low to high and side to side.

Fujifilm launched Finepix S8000fd which is a 8MP digital camera with an 18x optical zoom lens and a 3x digital zomm. This super zoom camera offers an equivalent focal range of 27 to 486mm stabilization, and featues face detection tehnology. The S8000fd has a 2.5 inch LCD screen and is powered by four AA Batteries.

I sometimes indulge myself in photography and my camera is always with me. When the light conditions are good and I find something good first thing I look for are the camera batteries and most of the time what happens that I find them dead and the camera can’t even take single shot and that too without flash. Not because they were not recharged, but because of not use and kept charged for few days, they loose the charge. Alkaline battery can be used here but after taking some shots, they also go down and cannot be recharged (who said? shh… u can do it few times!) and they become unusable. Sanyo has come up with a product called eneloop which is a Ni-MH rechargeable battery and it comes pre- charged. Just buy it and start using it. Once dead, charge it again and keep it for later use. This battery has longer charge retaining capacity and that’s why best for home use and one can charge the battery at leisure, keep it aside and find it fully charged when needed. Unfortunately this battery is still not available in my city but as soon as they are available I’ll will try it with my camera and see if works like the company claims or not.

What’s Macro photography btw? Simple you must have seen insanely enlarged images of simple objects making it look awesome. Here’s an example of such image:

Great ! This is possible by use of powerful camera zoom lens, good camera (oops! too pricy) and professional hands. Here I’ll tell you how you can gear yourself to shoot these macro photographs without burning a hole in your pocket and need of learning photography. These are the few things that you will require; most probably you would be already having at least one of them:
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