Posts Tagged ‘descriptions’
Samsung NX100, Slimline Mirrorless Camera with Smart Lenses
Author: Markus Smith
Samsung’s new NX100 is a cut-down version of its mirrorless NX10, coming on a like a compact camera to the NX10’s slimline SLR design. Like its older brother, the new camera has an APS-C-sized, 14.6 megapixel sensor and shoots 720p video. What it lacks is the bigger camera’s electronic viewfinder (although Samsung will sell you an add-on which slots into the hotshoe). But that’s not the point. The real news is in the lenses, which use something called “i-Function” to make the camera easier to use.
I-Function puts buttons on the lens itself. Hit the switch and you can then cycle through settings like white-balance, ISO, shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation, controlling them by turning the focus ring on the lens. Yes, it has taken years of research and innovation (the word “innovative” is used six times in the press release) to finally put an aperture ring back on the lens, just where it had sat since time began.
Samsung is also changing the descriptions of its lenses. Now you can buy a “landscape lens” or a “portrait lens”, and these i-Function lenses will tell the camera what they are so the camera can configure its own settings. This is called lens-priority mode, and compatible lenses will have little icons on them to let you know just what they are. I really like the on-lens control idea, but the auto-settings business seems a little gimmicky, and maybe even pointless on a camera clearly aimed at an enthusiast, not a point-and-shooter.
There will be accessories, too. Joining the viewfinder will be a GPS unit, and there are two lenses at launch, a 20-50mm Æ’3.5-5.6 zoom and a 20mm Æ’2.8 pancake lens. Other NX lenses will work, too, but you don’t get the fancy new features.
Pricing and availability are yet to be revealed. Given that an NX10 can be had in a zoom kit for $700, my guess is that the street price will be $500 to $600. The camera will come in black and (as seen in the gallery below) brown.
NX product page [Samsung: Not yet listing NX100]
See Also:
- Samsung NX10 Limited Edition in Black and White
- Zero to Hero: Five New NX Lenses Put Samsung in the Game
- Micro Four Thirds
- Sony Fights Micro Four-Thirds With Lens-Changing Compact
- 5 Reasons to Ditch Your Digital SLR
Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.
See the article here:
Samsung NX100, Slimline Mirrorless Camera with Smart Lenses
Related Posts:
Tags: descriptions, digital, Image, LED, make-the-camera, micro four thirds, Research, Samsung, thumbnail, Video, White | 
No Comments »Geek Mom Writes a Buffy Story
Author: Jon Mitchell
Fans have a great time attending big cons like San Diego Comic Con but often what goes on behind the scenes is as interesting as what is being presented to the public.
Take writer and geek mom Jackie Kessler, who ended up writing a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer story after going to a con.
“I’d met Dark Horse editor Scott Allie at Dragon*Con, and I’d offered to give him one of my books to read. He wanted something dark and not superhero, so I gave him Hell’s Belles, (sex, strippers and demons–what’s not to like?). A month later, I received author copies of the second book in that series, The Road to Hell, and I did a Twitter giveaway to the first ten people who retweeted. Scott was number two. When I emailed to confirm his address, he asked if I’d like to write a Buffyverse short comic for MySpace Dark Horse Presents. After a moment of pinching myself, I said sure. So there you go: I got the offer because Scott liked what he’d read of Hell’s Belles.”
You can’t find “Carpe Noctem” online any long but Kessler said it will be re-printed in an upcoming “Dark Horse Presents” trade paperback collection.
Images from “Carpe Noctum” by Kessler
When I heard this story via a mutual friend, I asked Kessler if I could also check out her books. Since I’m more of a superhero reader than a demon reader, I picked  Black & White and Shades of Grey, which are co-written by Caitlin Kittredge. The books feature two young woman as the main characters so I also hoped they might appeal to the eldest daughter.
Superheroes are such a visual medium that they’re hard to translate to prose so I was a skeptic before I started reading the books. But by chapter three of the first book, I was hooked, and I stayed up late to finish the second novel.
It struck me that Kessler and Kittredge have written the story that Heroes should have been.
They’ve created a world that not only deals with how the arrival of superheroes would affect everyone but how those heroes were created. The two main characters are former best friends now on opposite sides of the law. Well, sorta.
There’s a huge cast and a number of great action sequences but what sealed the deal for me is the in-depth characterization and the descriptions of how these people feel when they use their powers.
I asked Kessler if she’d always been interested in superheroes and science fiction/fantasy stories
“I started reading comics when I was about eight. My dad and I would go to the comic book shop every Saturday, pick out the week’s stash, then spend that afternoon reading comics and talking about them. (My bat mitzvah present was X-Men numbers 94 – 100 in mint condition.  Best present ever!”
Aside from me: Kessler has an awesome Geek Dad.
“They also took me on a tour of Marvel Comics when I was a teen, and one summer I got to meet Louise Simonson and show her a picture of Illyana Rasputin/Magik I’d drawn.
“I stopped reading avidly when I went to college — damn, comics got expensive — but when I was a junior, my suite mate plunked down a copy of Sandman #23 and said I had to read it. I did, and thank God, because that introduced me to Neil Gaiman. Another friend got me into MAGE, and from there I discovered Grendel.
“At one point, I had about 9,000 comics. But between time and, argh, a basement flood, I lost quite a lot of them. Now, when I buy comic books — say, Irredeemable and Incorruptible— I tend to go for the trade paperback versions.
“As for other pursuits…well, I’m finally watching all of Angel — the only Joss show that I hadn’t seen in full previously — and am thinking about starting DR. WHO. (I know, I’ve never watched an episode of Dr. Who. Pity me!)”
Kessler said her children–nine and seven–have followed in her footsteps. Somewhat.
“They’re more into superheroes a la cartoons (Teen Titans, Batman: The Brave and the Bold…who am I kidding? They’re all about Pokemon and Bakugon, damn it). But a mom can hope!”
See the original post here:
Geek Mom Writes a Buffy Story
