Lens Envy

Nikon P510 42x optical zoom. Source: www.nikonusa.com

In November last year I decided to get serious about the photos I take. Of course, mobile phones cameras are getting better and better (16 MP with the HTC Titan II), but even with the best mobile phone lenses or even with the slickest apps, the photos we take with our mobile phones are nothing more than photos taken with a mobile phone.

Therefore I went for a Nikon L120, but soon found out that the pictures it took were disappointing, especially in poor lighting conditions. So I returned that one and settled for a Nikon Coolpix P500. From my personal experience with the camera I can tell you that the P500 one takes great photos in every possible lighting environments thanks to its back-light CMOS senzor, has an impressive wide-angle optical zoom at 36x and boost Full HD recording at 1920x1080p / 30fps.

Why I’m telling you all this? Well, simply because the folks at Nikon launched P510, a remarkable successor to the above mentioned P500. As compared to the P500, the next generation super-zoom from Nikon comes with a 42x zoom with lens-shift VR and 16 MP. Talking about lens envy, right?

2012

Today will be the last day for CES 2012. This year’s edition brought numerous tech premieres and generally allowed us to take a glance at what 2012 will be all about, technologically speaking.

Tablets were there (the top of the class sporting the Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 update on top of  quad-core processors and high-res displays), ultrabooks were there too waiting patiently for Windows 8 Metro touch UI, enormous smarthphones like the new Sony Experia S or the HTC Titan II (4,7 inch display!!!) were also present. Similarly, HDTVs looked their best after some harsh dieting (see the 4mm thick 3D OLED HDTV from LG) and seemed to have lost their remote controls solely to rely on Kinect-like interaction with the user.

Apple was not present, and for that matter they didn’t needed to be – 2012 will be all about iPad 3, Apple TV and maybe even a new iPhone. Let’s not forget Apple is expected to refresh its Macbook line any time soon.

Also, keep a close eye on Windows 8, as its good looks are not the only great feature it brings to the PC world – it also comes with improved multitasking and security, build-in cloud features, own app store and even ARM support of the box (yes, that means tablets).

Happy 2012!