Photos of the Week 27th June-3rd July

Pictures We Love: Best of June

Preview: A Glimpse of Olympus’ PEN E-P3

Olympus is one of the brands known for their micro four-third, mirror-less cameras. Their first generation of PEN digital cameras have been out since a  while, now. They just launched the next generation of PEN cameras, two days back with the E-P3 model being the flagship model in the range.

A very colourful, sleak E-PL3

Some of the folks from Olympus were down here and we were invited for a briefing to get a first hand experience of their cameras. We were able to use the E-P3, and the E-PL3 cameras for a while and click a few quick snaps while we were there. The E-P3 is officially out and pieces should be available at the end of this month and early July. We should receive our review samples next week.

The E-P3 is the top of the line product under the renewed PEN series of cameras whereas the E-PL3 (PEN Lite) is a slightly lower end model. There’s also a mini E-PM3 (PEN Mini) model expected later in the year. The first impression when you use the product is that the body is the build quality.

Touchscreen and camera controls at the back

The quality of the lens being used also feels better. Zooming and focussing is much smoother and autofocus is faster than in the previous models. The interface too has been jazzed up.

Integrated, folding flash unit built into the E-P3

From the brief experience we had with the interface, it looked smooth and the animations were fluid and more appealing. The colours, fonts and artwork used were some of the best we’ve seen on any camera. All of the usual switches and buttons are where you'd expect them to be. The E-P3 fits fine for enthusiast who would typically go in for a point and shoot camera.

The E-PL3 is a lighter and more compact camera. One of the things missing is the in-built flash unit. The flash is a separate unit that’s bundled with the camera.

Folding screen for easier shooting

It comes with a foldable screen, but for one, lacks the touch feature. Almost all of the other features are present. The interfaces are slightly different in each of the cameras. The cameras are available with some customisations - different colours will be available and there’s also the option of hand grips made available to the user.

PRF-D58 lens filter on top of the 40 - 150mm Zuiko lens

There are quite a few lenses available and accessories such as wireless flash units, wireless data transfer modules, macro photography lights that fit on to the camera flash mount are being sold by Olympus. As with any unconventional, non-mainstream system, there’s a need for an ecosystem for the cameras. Olympus is even selling straps, camera covers, flash units, and camera grips.

From the short time that we played with the camera, it’s pretty clear that Olympus has really pushed the envelope with these new PEN cameras. They’ve managed to squeeze in a load of features into a smaller camera. From the little we experienced, it looks very impressive. We can’t wait to get our hands on it and try out all that we saw. We await our review samples.

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Website in a Box

How easy is it to sHow easy is it to set up your own website? One Indian company wants to change the answer to that question.et up your own website? One Indian company wants to change the answer to that question.
Arecent ad campaign for a new web hosting company has got a lot of people in India talking, not just because of their borderline-outrageous humor, but also because they promise that practically anyone can now own and operate a website for as little as Rs 99 per month. Bigrock, the company in question, would probably like to attract clients other than the roadside acting classes to less-than-legal bill collectors who casually explain their business models in these ads, but the message is clear enough: these are people who are good at doing what they do, and shouldn't have to bother with building or maintaining a website, even if they know how much having one will benefit them.

Bigrock has been launched by Directi, the well-known Indian web hosting and domain registry solutions provider. In addition to these, Bigrock now introduces a new range of website design services. The idea is to enable users from entirely non-technical backgrounds to register a domain name, pick a basic template, and get a modern, fully functional website off the ground in less than a day.

The two broad categories available are 'Do-it-Yourself' and 'Build It for Me'. The latter option, while more expensive, will be the most popular with those who don't want to spend any time or effort in building a website. We asked Bigrock to set us up with a trial of the DIY scheme, which turned out to be surprisingly easy to use. DIY plans start from Rs 99 per month (three year commitment for a single page plus 20 email IDs) and go up to Rs 299 per month (one year commitment, 50 pages, and unlimited email IDs).

The registration and domain selection process was quick and painless, but required the creation of an account with Bigrock. Once done, we were faced with a slightly confusing admin control page, which is the only jargon-laden part of the process.

Clicking the Website Builder tool instantly takes you to a fully graphical environment, in which you see your own page and then simply click around to add or edit content. It's easy enough to manage page navigation and create the basic structure of each page (as well as a neat way to repeat boxes on every page), but we were also glad to see tools that allow those with a knowledge of HTML and CSS to fine-tune the designs. Not all templates are customizable, but luckily you can experiment and even build your own template from scratch.

Most importantly, you can add a blog, and integrate your Twitter and Facebook feeds, though again you can't customize some minor aspects of each of these modules' appearance. Setting up email requires you to go back to the admin control panel and simply follow the onscreen instructions.

Overall, Bigrock is powerful and easy enough for everyone to use, just like the ads promise.

Spring Landscapes PART 2