When you want to travel light with your DSLR camera you’ll probably want to invest in a super-zoom lens. These lenses have a phenomenal zoom range while still keeping fairly compact. Due to the versatility of the super-zoom lens they are often referred to as the ‘Holiday’ or ‘Walk Around’ lens and with the ability to replace several lenses with just one it’s easy to understand why.
The Canon EF-S 18-200MM lens
Canon EF-S 18-200MM IS lens specification:
- Image size: APS-C
- 35mm film equivalent focal length: 29-320mm
- Angle of view (horzntl, vertl, diagnl): 64° 30′ – 6° 30′, 45° 30′ – 4° 20′, 74° 20′ – 7° 50′
- Lens construction (elements/groups): 16/12
- No. of diaphragm blades: 6
- Minimum aperture: 22 – 38(36)
- Closest focusing distance (m): 0.45
- Maximum magnification (x): 0.24(at 200mm)
- Distance information: Yes
- Image stabilizer: 4-stops
- AF actuator: Micro Motor
- Filter diameter (mm): 72mm
- Max. diameter x length (mm): 78.6×102
- Weight (g): 595
Review
Until this lens was launched last year, if you wanted a super-zoom lens for your Canon EOS your choices were a little limited. Canon have the 28-200 and 28-300mm lenses available but when you consider the 1.6x crop ratio of many Canon EOS cameras these lenses had a 35mm equivalent of 44.8mm at the wide end so if you wanted anything wider you’d have to opt for a Sigma or Tamron lens with an EF mount which many Canon purist hate to do.
However Canon pleased many of their EOS owning customers when they launched the EF-S 18-200mm IS lens last year with a 35mm equivalent range of 28.8 to 320mm on a 1.6x cropped sensor this additional reach was just what the doctor ordered and offers a great deal of versatility.
Canon’s new 18-200mm lens is a large and sturdy looking piece of kit that weighs in at just under 600 grams. This zoom range is achieved in a relatively compact package though thanks to the two telescoping barrels that you’ll see in the images below.
You might think that such a zoom range would come at the expense of maximum aperture but the 18-200 can still manage f/5.6 at the long end which is still pretty fast. You also get Canon’s Image Stabilizer (IS) technology built-in which helps to reduce blurring caused by camera shake and gives you the ability to shoot 4 stops slower than you would otherwise be able to with the IS turned off. This means 1/15sec at the long end is achievable.
On the outside you have a couple of switches. One to turn the IS on or off and one to switch between auto and manual focus.
The zoom ring is large and has a rubber grip which is ideally placed. The manual focus ring sits right at the front of the lens and is slightly on the small size but still adequate. Both the Zoom and Manual focus rings are smooth and make it easy to make fairly fine adjustments.
On the other side of the lens body is a lock switch that allows you to lock the zoom at 18mm which stops the zoom from extending when you aren’t using it. I found myself using this quite a lot while walking around as the zoom action was a little ‘looser’ than I would have liked and would often extend under its own weight which did get a little annoying after a while especially as I seem to be pointing the camera and lens down quite a lot while taking photos of phones etc. It would be handy to have the ability to tighten this up or to apply the lock at any point within the zoom range.
Unlike many other Canon lenses in my kit bag this one doesn’t have an ultrasonic motor (USM) to drive the AF but to be honest, in practice, I hardly noticed the difference. Autofocus was still fast and pretty quiet and remains accurate throughout the zoom range.
There is a downside though as this lens does suffer from vignetting at both extreme ends of the zoom range and there is a little distortion at 18mm. If you are shooting RAW and using Canon Digital Photo Professional to process your images the lens profile will help to correct this and the rest and be easily edited in Photoshop.
Conclusion
This is definitely a lens that I’ll be adding to my kit bag. It’ll replace the 17-85mm and 75-200mm lens that I already carry with me on a day-to-day basis and will help to lighten my every-day kit bag!
At just over £450 the Canon EF-S 18-200mm IS lens is a bargain and offers an excellent zoom range for the money. Sure you lose a little in IQ versus a lens with a fixed focal length or a shorter zoom range but for me the convenience of not having to lens swap or carry multiple lenses outweighs the drawbacks.
Review by: Matt
You know that icon you have in the programs part of your Windows Mobile phone that says update and has never worked, well in future versions it looks like it could actually do something. According to istartedsomething, who have spotted a Microsoft advertisement that points to just that. This is what it says:-
Have you wished to see your Windows Mobile phone with new features “magically” show up without you buying a new one? Do you want to see greater and better quality and cool software delivered to your love ones’ Windows phones from just a click? If this is your dream, this is a place for you. Come join us to make this dream into reality! With the mobile industry’s strong growth and several competitors playing in the field, we are going to have a challenging but fun time to show customers what Windows phone can become in the next few years.
We are in Windows Mobile device update team. Our goal is to enable customers to anticipate and enjoy a predictable stream of new and improved capabilities for their Windows Phone via a Device Update service that is worry-free and easy-to-use. Broad scope and impact, deep technologies, engineering challenges, partner interfacing with OEMs and MS internal partners, and fast pace delivery are all part of our charter. In the agile development environment, you will be working with PM/architect/test and partner teams to deliver critical stack of the update solution. You will lead a team of smart developers to solve problems in mobile OS, PC applications, and interacting with web services.
Putting all the rumours and news together it looks like Microsoft may be eventually starting to understand what we want, heres hoping.
The next release of the Android platform will be Android 1.5 and Google have announced the availability of an early look SDK to give developers a head-start on developing applications for it. There are a lot of new features being introduced and we have the full details after the break. Some highlights will be a more polished user interface throughout, faster camera, smooth animations and scrolling, soft keyboard in portrait and landscape modes, A2DP Bluetooth, video recording and lots more. Read on for all the details.
I was just twittering today about a few problems that I was having with Pocket Informant for iPhone and along comes a new update. Not sure yet if it will fix my issues but they do seem to have fixed a lot of bugs and added in one or two new features. We also notice that there is a free Lite version available so if you want to try out the application you can for free. You can get that from the iTunes App Store here.
Bluetooth 3.0 is closer to release than anticipated, but how long before we see it become the standard is still up in the air because it doesn’t look cheap. April 21st is the official launch party of Bluetooth 3.0 which promises transfer speeds of up to 480Mbps, yep you read correctly 480Mbps is definitely the promised transferred speeds and it will be very interesting to see if it works out like that in real world testing. The high speed can be achieved by enabling the 802.11 standard but only when the user is transferring large files, after that it goes back to the normal standard when large files are completed which should slow battery consumption somehow. I wonder which device will be first to incorporate Bluetooth 3.0? We have to wait and see what happens come April 21st.
[Via Mobiletopsoft]
ScummVM is a game engine that was designed to be easily ported to multiple systems. It is currently available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Dreamcast, PocketPC, PalmOS, AmigaOS, BeOS, OS/2, PSP, PS2, SymbianOS and now Android. ScummVM was originally released to support LucasArts point-and-click adventure games.
If you missed out on our previous eXpansys discount voucher offer, don’t worry, we’ve managed to get eXpansys to give us a whole new batch of vouchers to give away!
To grab your own voucher all you have to do is submit your name and email address and we’ll send you your unique voucher code.
The offer is £10 to put towards an order of £40 or more between now and the 30th April
To use your code you can:
- Enter it in the Voucher Code field at checkout, or;
- Call 0161 868 0868 and quote it and the fact you are purchasing via TracyandMatt to your sales advisor, or;
- Email [email protected] with your voucher code after placing your order, again stating you are purchasing via TracyandMatt
You can even send the sign-up link to family and friends so that they too can take advantage of this great offer!
By registering for your eXpansys voucher you will be added to our newsletter mailing list which you can unsubscribe from at any time. Vouchers are only valid at www.eXpansys.com and when you spend £40 or more. One voucher can be used for a single order, between now and up to and including the 30th April 2009. Discount will be applied to the cost of the goods and excludes delivery charges. Not to be used in conjunction with any other eXpansys special offer. Valid for use with UK orders placed on www.expansys.com or with our call centre and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or to purchase memory cards.
Posted by: Matt
[ Post Tags: expansys, money off, voucher offer, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]
Google have updated their Maps Application for Windows Mobile and Symbian users. The new version 3.01 has a lot of major and minor bug fixes which we have after the break. It is always worth keeping your applications up to date. Hopefully when the Windows Market Place is up and running this will be done automatically in the future.
Download version 3.0.1 by visiting http://m.google.com/maps in your mobile web browser. To ensure proper device detection, use your phone’s original browser, such as Internet Explorer Mobile on Windows Mobile devices. All the details after the break.
In-ear style headphones are now pretty commonplace but the downside of these is that they have to be small enough to fit in your ear canal which often means that the speaker driver is also small and small drivers lead to a puny sounding bass. However, that’s where the Sony XB40EX headphones are different as they are specifically designed to offer a better bass performance.
What’s in the box?
- The Sony XB40EX headphones
- Three different size ear plugs
- Clip to hold the cable in place
- Headphone Case
Sony XB40EX headphones specification:
- Ear bud design
Directs sound into the ear and reduces ineffective sound passages. Included small, medium and large ear cushions offer a custom fit. - 13.5mm driver
- Sealed acoustic designReduces sound leakage and delivers deep bass.
- Hybrid silicone ear buds
- Flat cord
- 4Hz – 24kHz frequency response
- 105dB/mW sensitivity
- 16 ohms impedance
- Carrying case
- Weight: Aprox 9g
Review
It’s always a little tricky to review products like headphones – is there much that you can say about them?!
The Sony XB40EX headphones do live up to their claims as the bass sound is truly amazing, it’s the kind of sound that you would typically expect to get from a much larger set of cans. Thanks to their excellent low end response the middle and top end sounds so much clearer and tighter.
The package also includes three different sizes of ear plugs which means you can pick the ones that are right for you. When you have a good fit this helps to isolate outside noise and stops your music leaking out and annoying fellow bus travellers!
The other decent thing about the Sony XB40EX headphones is that the cable is flat rather than round. This may not seem like a big deal but in practice this seems to help prevent the cables from becoming tangled when kept in a pocket or bag.
There are a few things I didn’t like about these headphones though. Firstly the size is a bit off putting. I’m not talking about the size of the speaker driver, which needs to be large but the silver part that the driver is attached to. I don’t see why that really needs to be there. This leads me to the second thing I dislike about them – they are uncomfortable! I can wear the Sony XB40EX headphones for a while but after about 30 minutes they begin to make my ears ache. This is partly because of the shape of the outside which digs in to my ear.
Conclusion
The sound performance of the Sony XB40EX headphones is truly amazing and they do have to be heard to be believed. You don’t have to be a bass head to appreciate them.
The biggest let down for me is that they are just too uncomfortable to use for long. I’m sure this wont be a problem for everyone but you have to try them yourself to find out which isn’t always possible.
Review by: Matt
HTC have published a new video, this one gives us a brief look around the new Touch Cruise, this is the one with the Footprints feature that allows you to tag pictures as points of interest so you can navigate to and revisit them easily in the future. It is just a short video but its worth a watch especially as it is Easter and news is as slow as a frozen snail. Video after the break.
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