Canon T2iWhen I posted my S90 review a few months ago, I admitted that most technology doesn’t impress me. Today, I got my hands on the Canon T2i, one of the much awaited cameras for video producers. This post provides a brief overview of the camera with samples and why this is a game changer for the entire video industry.

Canon T2i / 550D review:

Canon has been churning out cameras on a consistent basis over the past few months. The Canon 5D Mark II was a groundbreaking release that allowed video producers to create high-quality video for a minimal cost. See the proof here.

However, for many hobbyists and advanced amateurs, it was still a significant investment. Then, Canon released the 7D, which was also received with much fanfare. And, it delivered.

With the Canon T2i / 550D, the video quality remains the same, but it costs half as much as the Canon 7D and nearly 25% of the Canon 5D II.

The process is very easy. Turn on the camera, go to the video mode, select your settings and click on the video record button. If you’re new to creating professional video, it’s important to note that you will have to manually focus while in video mode.

Canon T2i / 550D image samples:

(ISO 6400)

(ISO 6400)

Canon T2i / 550D video samples:

Canon T2i / 550D conclusion:

In the opening statement I mentioned that technology rarely impresses me. The T2i is an exception. It is a game changer for those that want to produce high-quality videos for a low cost. And, for media companies, it is a chance to deliver high-quality videos on every medium. No exceptions.

Last year, I did a review of the Canon Powershot S90. For my 2 week vacation to Thailand and Singapore, I decided to only take my S90 over my Nikon D300. The results speak for themselves. 

View all the photos here. 

Portable digital video recorders have come a long way. Starting from convinience to quality, they come in all different shapes and sizes. Most cameras being released today include features that are usually minor.

The Flip series of cameras — Mino HD and Ultra HD have long been the leaders of the pack. However, Kodak recently announced and released the Zi8, a camera designed to produce better quality video. In this post, we’ll take a look at the Zi8 and see how it stands up.

Before we start taking a look at the content, it’s important to state up front that both cameras worked equally well in day light conditions. However, during the day, the Zi8 had a slight advantage over the Flip Mino HD. In certain situations, the Flip over-exposes the images in certain situations, so the image is too bright. On the other hand, the Kodak Zi8 did not demonstrate this flaw.

Difference # 1 – Memory

The Zi8 uses SD cards only to record content, where as the Mino HD only records using internal memory. One of the advantage of using SD cards is that they can easily be purchased when absolutely necessary. So, if you’re traveling on vacation without access to a computer, you can instantly purchase additional cards and use them to keep recording on the Zi8. No such option exists for the Flip Mino HD.

Difference # 2 – Audio

The Zi8 also has the ability to attach a microphone port, which could be useful. If audio is important to you and you have access to a microphone, then the Zi8 should be your choice.

Difference # 3 – Tripod

Both the cameras have tripod mounts. However, the Zi8 has a rounded base, which means that it cannot stand upright on it’s own. If you don’t want to use a tripod all the time, then the Flip Mino HD is for you.

The biggest challenge for all these cameras is low light performance. The following section goes over the low light performance in 3 situations: 1) indoor at night 2) outside with a street lamp and 3) no/extremely minimal light. 

Zi8 – Low Light Review

Despite it’s stellar feature set, I was very disappointed with the Kodak Zi8 in low light situations. Every camera move resulted in jerky images, making the video nearly unusable.

Mino HD – Low Light Review

While the Mino HD has been out for a while, it did not demonstrate the jerky image problem mentioned above. However, low light images were very grainy. While they’re usable to a certain extent, they’re far from being adequate.

Overall conclusion:

When it comes to daylight videos, the Zi8 is a better choice. However, when it comes to night time videos, the Flip Mino HD is preferred. Unfortunately, none of these cameras replace traditional camcorders. 

Portable devices continue to add functionalities with each release. For example, when people compare the original iPhone to the currently available iPhone 3Gs, most would agree that there is a substantial difference. Today, Sony released its PlayStation Portable Go (PSP Go) gaming system, which doesn’t to follow the above logic. In this review, we’ll take a look at the different features of the device and how it functions.

Pros

16GB internal storage: The original PSP had limited internal storage and thus users had to purchase additional memory sticks. Fortunately, for most users, this is no longer a necessity as the PSP Go comes with 16GB of internal storage, which is sufficient for holding a few movies and games. 

Cons

Build: The PSP Go is much lighter than the original version. Unfortunately, this lower weight is also accompanied with inferior build quality and almost a cheap plastic-like feel. For a device that costs $250, the build should have been improved on. 

Proprietary: The video formats that the PSP Go accepts are still very restricted and are often not compatible with other players outside the Sony ecosystem. Furthermore, the PSP Go uses Memory Stick Micros for additional storage. Unfortunately, other than Sony, no other companies use Memory Stick Micro. SD cards and/or Compact Flash cards would have been a better choice.

Price: The PSP Go costs $249.99. Given that the PS3 costs $299.99 and that other PSP models are under $200, the PSP Go is priced extremely high. For users that prefer casual gaming, devices such as the Apple iPod touch are better options.

Compatibly:The PSP Go does not support UMD discs. Which means that if a user has previously purchased games or movies, they are essentialy useless. Sony does not offer users the ability to download the same content for free or even at a reduced cost. For users looking to purchase new devices, the PSP-3000 is a better option.

Conclusion

The PSP Go is an inferior system in all regards — starting from the build quality to it’s proprietary content and storage mechanism. It is priced higher than the base level iPod touch, the very capable Archos media players, the Nintendo DS and even the original PSP-1000. All three of these devices provide a much better entertainment experience than the PSP Go. Unless Sony drastically offers additional features not found in prior versions of the device and various competing products, the PSP Go will be a hard sell, especially since the device has fewer features than its predecessors.

Digital content is produced for many different audiences. While this blog is primarily focused on delivering media to the general audience, this article focuses on digital learning through online media.

Companies like Total Training and Lynda.com have been pushing out frequent content on a large scale. While they differ in quality and strategy, it’s sufficient to indicate that the learning market is large and the underlying technology is extremely important as it often dictates the end result.

Today, Techsmith announced the release of Camtasia for Mac, a video screen recording software. Techsmith is well-known in the PC digital education market, with their Camtasia and SnagIt products.

While Techsmith is not the first company to create screen recording software for the Mac, it’s designed to give it’s two other competitors, Snapz Pro X and Screenflow, a run for their money.

Here’s a brief overview of how the application works:

While launching Camtasia, a user is presented with a fairly simple interface that allows you to select an audio or or camera source. The software also allows you to record system audio.

After recording, video files are automatically imported into a Camtasia project. Similar to Camtasia’s recording interface, it’s editing interface is extremely streamlined and is divided into a canvas, a timeline, and a media/library panel.

Although streamlined, Camtasia’s editing interface is it’s most powerful feature. The following features in particular, make a huge difference:

• SmartFocus: This feature gives editors the ability to automatically focus on the location of the mouse pointer. While this isn’t 100% accurate, it is very usable and cuts down on editing time tremendously.
• File handling: It’s a pleasant surprise to see how well the application managed to work with a number of different file times, including WMV files (with Flip4Mac).
• Export: The site allows 1-click exports to a number of popular destinations, including iTunes, YouTube, and the iPhone.

Although the application has many notable features, the following 2 items are missing and noticeable immediately:

• Export to FLV: The application doesn’t support FLV exports, an essential feature for creating interactive video environments.
• Given the importance of transitions and actions in Camtasia, it’s a little surprising to see that their representative icons are small and difficult to locate, compared to other items of the interface.

Overall, for a 1.0 release, this is a great product and a worthy competitor.

Aside: When I used to create the Creative Cow Premiere Pro podcast, I had to use at least 3 different applications to accomplish the task. With Camtasia for Mac, that number would be reduced to 1.

Digital Bits focuses on technology and it’s effectiveness on the general consumer market.

Over the past few years, many companies have started releasing compact high-definition cameras that record on flash memory. The leader in this group has been Pure Digital, with it’s line of Flip cameras.

In this post, we’ll compare the Flip Mino HD with the recently released DXG 533v-Soho.

Physical and Technical Differences:

• The DXG camera is quite a bit larger than the Flip and includes a screen that opens up like traditional camcorders, making content recording and playback easy.
• The DXG camera has too many buttons as compared to the Flip Mino HD. While this may be great for experienced users that understand the difference between NTSC and PAL, it’s not ideal for casual users.
• The DXG camera records on SD cards, where as the Flip Mino HD has internal storage. In this case, DXG has an advantage, especially for continuous recording.
  
• Similarly, the DXG uses AAA batteries vs. the built-in battery of the Flip Mino HD. This could come in handy while traveling.

Quality Differences:

Both cameras are fairly similar when it comes to day time shots. However, for night time content, both cameras have their own flaws.

The following image essentially represents the same shot, with a sample from the DXG on the left and the Flip Mino HD on the right. The DXG shot is almost completely dark, whereas the Flip Mino HD is extremely grainy. While shooting at night, neither of these products are recommended.

Conclusion:

The DXG camera is positioned in an awkward spot in the extensive camcorder market place. It isn’t as portable as the Flip and it’s quality fails to match traditional camcorders. If consumers are looking for ultra-portable camcorders, the Flip is certainly a better choice. And, if consumers are looking for a full-fledged video camera, there are significantly better options. Unfortunately, the DXG camera is right in the middle, making it a tough choice for many consumers.

As content creators, we tend to assume that consumers will always adapt to a good idea. However, that doesn’t happen. We need to enable customers to reach and interact with content by providing them with simple working solutions.

Therefore, we’re starting a Digital Bits section on this blog — a category that explores digital technology and it’s effectiveness. In this first section, we’re going to focus on cellular phones and start off by comparing the Apple iPhone 3GS and the BlackBerry (8900/9630).

Apple iPhone 3GS:

The first iPhone was announced on 6/29/2007, and initially, it was a fairly expensive device that required no contracts. So, a consumer could go to a store, buy a device, and not commit to a carrier agreement. Despite it’s unsubsidized price, the device sold well. Apple has since then released the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS.

Compared to most other cellular devices, the iPhone succeeds at 4 things: a) simplicity b) media capabilities  c) a real browse and d) fun. 

However, compared to nearly every other device, the iPhone lacks in reliable data connectivity. Searching for ‘iPhone problems,’ will result in hundreds of thousands of results. Most of these are related to dropped calls and a poor data network. Many people are quick to blame AT&T. However, is it entirely AT&Ts fault? I don’t think so. I know individuals that use BlackBerry devices on the AT&T network and they have no problems with connectivity.

Many people have been hoping that the iPhone would be available on the Verizon network. However, that is unlikely to happen. Verizon and Sprint use a CDMA network. Most other networks in the world are GSM, including AT&T and T-Mobile.

BlackBerry 8900/9630:

BlackBerrys have been used by businesses for more than a decade. Spanning a range of options, they were once the de-facto business communication devices. However, there are still serious shortcomings, especially when compared with the iPhone.

After using the iPhone for more than a year and then returning to the BlackBerry 9630, the one factor that I miss the most is the ‘fun’ factor. The iPhone, especially with the launch of the App Store, is a fantastic device. It offers entertainment and business applications for multiple industries. However, the BlackBerry devices lack this and their attempt of launching an App Store have been mediocre at best. Furthermore, after going through numerous technical support calls with T-Mobile (BlackBerry 8900), I was informed multiple times that the App Store should be un-installed and removed from the device, as it eats up battery and considerably slows down the device.

Apart from available applications, BlackBerry devices also rely on an intermediate service — the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) or the BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES). If either of these services fail, then email becomes unusable. In my recent experience, this has happened atleast once a month.

As I’ve gone through BlackBerry phones, the company has certainly improved it’s media capabilities. The most recent devices have excellent audio and video quality that can be compared with the iPhone. On the other hand, the browser still needs considerable improvement.

Conclusion:

At this point, if you need a reliable device, the iPhone is not the answer. As a phone, it’s terrible. As an internet device, it’s fantastic. If you need a great phone and a mediocre browsing experience, check out the latest BlackBerry devices.