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Some 33WR samples & impression

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wlachan

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Since I could find no sample or review on this camera anywhere, I think some might find these useful. I just got this camera yesterday and took some shots indoor. My impression is that the power consumption is okay, but not great. It is certainly better than the Coolpix 2000 that I got few months ago, but I was hoping the batteries (Sony 1450 NiMH) would last longer. Perhaps the Energizer 2100NiMH will do significantly better? Overall the camera feels solid, unlike the Coolpix 2000. The rubber corners are nice touch and make the handling good. Start up & taking picture are fast. Writing speed is good even at max quality (but not suitable continous shooting). It can do spot & 5-point AF. In both modes, the LCD will confirm which point is in-focus, and the chosen shutter speed & aperture will be displayed. Resolution, picture quality (1-3), wb, metering pattern & ISO are displayed on LCD at all time. A few interesting sound is available for different operations, just like in MS WIndows. However, I only keep the shutter sound on to save power. The LCD can be turned off, on, or with "live histogram", which is also available when viewing pictures. The lens can focus a lot closer at the wide end. 11 pictures modes are available, plus the standard P mode. + - 2EV compensation at 1/3EV is available by simply pushing , quite easy. The pictures look a lot brighter on the LCD than on the PC so it might not be easy to determine how much compensation is required however (but Photoshop should take care of it easiy if not too off balance). The LCD has a noticeable blue cast so don't be fooled when doing white balance. Voice can be recorded on each picture. Audio recording or movie with sound are also available. It uploads the picture using USB1.1 & ACDSee6.

Two things I can see improving:

1) A white balance button would be nice. Searching through the menu to do manual wb is not joyful.

2) The slightly raised LCD protection plastic could use a lttle more protection itself. It could be made a little recessed or with a raised frame around it would be nice. I don't feel comfortable to leave it against the table surface because it could be scratched easily. However, the camera itself can stand up securely (thanks to the large rubber corners).

Close-up picture quality at ISO50 looks good. Noise is very noticeable at ISO400 with tungsten light indoor (don't know how it compares against other 3.2MP cameras, but not that bad when compared to Konica 135-400 colour film). Unfortunately, it will be raining till Sunday so I do not have any outdoor shots to show at the moment. These samples will be updated as soon as I have something better or meaningful to show, so keep them checked.

http://www3.telus.net/wlachan/33WR/
 
I just received my wr33 and have taken a few shots before it got dark last night. Hre are my pros and cons:
Pros
Small, fits in pocket of life jacket for kayaking
Easy to learn and use
Waterproof
Software installs easily and works well
Lots of extra "cute" features, panorama, alarm, interval etc.
AA batteries available anywhere
Movie mode works well
Small prints look great

Cons
Needs a hand grip, slippery, easy to drop when wet
Optical viewfinder does not show all of image captured
If you wear glasses, they will interfere with your thumb on zoom rocker switch
Camera does not float as shown in advertisement
Have to hold in on zoom button for a second before it starts to react.

Modes are not explained in manual (what is difference between landscape, program and snapshot modes?)
Secure digital. Would have preferred CF
LCD hard to read in sunlight

For me, the one big neagative is the image quality. I expected some trade offs in such a small waterproof digital, but the image quality is not nearly as good as my 3 year old 2Mp Nikon.

It may sound like I am not happy with this camera, but I am. I bought it to shoot from my kayak while paddling whitewater. It will suffice for this purpose and there is relly nothing else out there that will fit this requirement right now.
I will post some samples later.
PentaxNut said:
Since I could find no sample or review on this camera anywhere, I
think some might find these useful. I just got this camera
yesterday and took some shots indoor. My impression is that the
power consumption is okay, but not great. It is certainly better
than the Coolpix 2000 that I got few months ago, but I was hoping
the batteries (Sony 1450 NiMH) would last longer. Perhaps the
Energizer 2100NiMH will do significantly better? Overall the camera
feels solid, unlike the Coolpix 2000. The rubber corners are nice
touch and make the handling good. Start up & taking picture are
fast. Writing speed is good even at max quality (but not suitable
continous shooting). It can do spot & 5-point AF. In both modes,
the LCD will confirm which point is in-focus, and the chosen
shutter speed & aperture will be displayed. Resolution, picture
quality (1-3), wb, metering pattern & ISO are displayed on LCD at
all time. A few interesting sound is available for different
operations, just like in MS WIndows. However, I only keep the
shutter sound on to save power. The LCD can be turned off, on, or
with "live histogram", which is also available when viewing
pictures. The lens can focus a lot closer at the wide end. 11
pictures modes are available, plus the standard P mode. + - 2EV
compensation at 1/3EV is available by simply pushing , quite easy.
The pictures look a lot brighter on the LCD than on the PC so it
might not be easy to determine how much compensation is required
however (but Photoshop should take care of it easiy if not too off
balance). The LCD has a noticeable blue cast so don't be fooled
when doing white balance. Voice can be recorded on each picture.
Audio recording or movie with sound are also available. It uploads
the picture using USB1.1 & ACDSee6.

Two things I can see improving:
1) A white balance button would be nice. Searching through the menu
to do manual wb is not joyful.
2) The slightly raised LCD protection plastic could use a lttle
more protection itself. It could be made a little recessed or with
a raised frame around it would be nice. I don't feel comfortable to
leave it against the table surface because it could be scratched
easily. However, the camera itself can stand up securely (thanks to
the large rubber corners).

Close-up picture quality at ISO50 looks good. Noise is very
noticeable at ISO400 with tungsten light indoor (don't know how it
compares against other 3.2MP cameras, but not that bad when
compared to Konica 135-400 colour film). Unfortunately, it will be
raining till Sunday so I do not have any outdoor shots to show at
the moment. These samples will be updated as soon as I have
something better or meaningful to show, so keep them checked.

http://www3.telus.net/wlachan/33WR/
Click to expand...
 
I have updated the samples. The distant shots I got this morning were not good due to the rain so I won't post them. I will try again the next few days. After trying it in vary conditions, I am a little more familiar with this camera. The biggest concern is its AF abiilty. The AF requires good light. I had many slightly blurred people shots due to out-of-focus, or camera shake, or both? Many times it just wouldn't lock focus indoor, or they came out slightly blurred handheld. But I have a few pretty sharp shots at about the same distance, handheld or with tripod. So I believe the optics are good, but the AF is not when the light is low, or relatively low (reads INDOOR). "Precise" manual focus with the LCD is next to impossible. I am so used to regular 135 SLRs for so many years I have had difficult time to avoid camera shake even at 1/60s or slower (I usually could do 1/8s without problem with heavy cameras & standard lens). With bright subjects, it can underexpose heavily even with +2EV (see "03.jpg"), but it can be saved in Photoshop.

On the other hand, the "macro" mode is pretty good at all focal lengths (without flash pls). It is capable to produce sharp images edge to edge, but the minimium distance at the long end is 20 (up to 50cm) only, while at the wide end is 1-50cm. AF is also good when the subject is well lighted. Indoor shots with "Night Scene Portrait" mode are well balanced, but getting the subject in focus or trying to avoid camera shake is a constant challenge (see 04.jpg). Also, the newly purchased Energizer 2100NiMHs seem to last a lot longer than the Sony 1450NiMHs that I tried before.

http://www3.telus.net/wlachan/33WR/
 
Some better samples have been updated. They are the original with medium sharpness/saturation/contrast (they will look better & sharper with "level" in Photoshop). After some throughout testing, I have found the noise control is excellent at ISO50, very good at 100, barely okay at 200 and poor at 400. High setting for sharpness/saturation/contrast is no good so I keep them at the default setting (medium) at all time. The good news is, picture quality & colour are good at ISO50 & 100 with medium setting. The only problem is that distant objects appear soft, especially at the wide end. However, the actual paper prints should appear sharper than on the monitors. I suggest you print them out at 5x7" & 4x6" to evaluate the results (what a 3MP for anyway). Due to the limited space I have, I can only keep 6 pictres at any single time. Previous samples have been removed for the newer ones. Hope anyone interested in this little camera found these samples useful.

http://www3.telus.net/wlachan/33WR/
 
Nice shots!
I like 09 and 12 very much. quite sharp at the long end.
But I coundn't find the ISO info, it is not included in exif?
PentaxNut said:
Some better samples have been updated. They are the original with
medium sharpness/saturation/contrast (they will look better &
sharper with "level" in Photoshop). After some throughout testing,
I have found the noise control is excellent at ISO50, very good at
100, barely okay at 200 and poor at 400. High setting for
sharpness/saturation/contrast is no good so I keep them at the
default setting (medium) at all time. The good news is, picture
quality & colour are good at ISO50 & 100 with medium setting. The
only problem is that distant objects appear soft, especially at the
wide end. However, the actual paper prints should appear sharper
than on the monitors. I suggest you print them out at 5x7" & 4x6"
to evaluate the results (what a 3MP for anyway). Due to the limited
space I have, I can only keep 6 pictres at any single time.
Previous samples have been removed for the newer ones. Hope anyone
interested in this little camera found these samples useful.

http://www3.telus.net/wlachan/33WR/
Click to expand...
 
Glad you like them. :-) I am certain the ISO info is there because when I viewed them on camera, it displayed the chosen ISO. However, I cannot find them using ACDSee or Photoshop. Don't know where they go?? Btw, all these shots use ISO50.
roy zhang said:
Nice shots!
I like 09 and 12 very much. quite sharp at the long end.
But I coundn't find the ISO info, it is not included in exif?
Click to expand...
 
3 more samples have been posted. I think these 3 pictures should indicate the best possible quality from this tiny lens for distant subjects. Level them a bit in Photoshop should deliver better results but I prefer to post the originals without modification. Enjoy.





 
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