403: THIS GOES INTO MY TOP 3 OF MY FAVORITE GADGETS

Give me the tinfoil-hat. A new gadget for my Iphone

My Iphone 4 gives me certain headaches during calls. Or to be more specific: I get a stinging headache exactly on my ear. My chin begins to heat up as well. That worried me quiet a bit.

It turned out that I had a minor ear infection or rather inflammation in both ears, therefore my ears were a little sensitive. Nevertheless it is a fact (at least in my case) that the iphone 4 does have some stronger radiation than my former cellphones. Do I want to change my phone again? Actually no. I am quiet happy with the phone, although the battery seems to have less power after only two months of use.

So how do I solve my headache problem. First of all my ears needed to cure, but that doesn't help the fact that the phone actually does emit some radiation which does affect my body in some kind of way.

I know that there are no scientific facts (yet) that prove any health issues regarding cellphone radiation, but I do "feel" an effect. Even when my ears are healed the phone still heats up my chin in a minor way.

That's why I bought the Moshi Moshi handset from Native Union. It's a handset that is styled like the handset of an old phone. It comes in different styles and in about six different colors. Main reason for buying this handset was of course the health issue described above, but other than that it is way more comfortable to hold the phone during calls. Of course a normal in ear headset is more comfortable, but I didn't like all the fiddling around with the little in ear solution.

Overall the built quality is excellent. Sound quality was at first a little soft but then it gets louder. I am not sure yet if it needs to warm up or something. I have to observe that for a while.

The Moshi Moshi Handset definitely gets my recommendation!

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297: FUJI S5 PRO review...

Ok two days ago I gave some insights on the Nikon D5000. So now let's continue with a little insight on the Fuji S5 pro.

Disclaimer: This isn't a scientific test or a "real" review, just my views on this camera.

First and foremost: A Fuji? Thought you use Nikon? Well, the Fuji S5 pro is based on the Nikon D200. It shares the same body and therefore the same lens mount, but this is where the similarities end. Fuji designed a completely different sensor. On this sensor basicly each pixel consist of two photocells: One for really bright and one for darker exposure (that's probably a real simple explanation). This leads to the very good dynamic range and color rendition. The camera is "only" 6 megapixel, but due to it's double construction and interpolation it is featured as a 12 megapixel camera.

In my experience so far this interpolation isn't bad, especially for people photography. The dynamic range and the color rendition is something that I really like with this camera. For instance, this picture was completely overexposed. I was able to recover all the detail and still make it a good picture (click "continue to read" to see the before picture). Unfortunately the file size is despite it's 12 or rather 6 megapixels quite big. 25 mb if you capture RAW files with full dynamic range, and that leads to the S5 pro's "speed".

The camera is really really slow. It takes a long time to clear the buffer and to write to the card. At first I was really annoyed by this, but over the time I got used to it and it helped me to shoot less and more thoughtful, instead of shooting away and ending up with thousands of pictures that I do not need anyway.

Sometimes you read on the web that the camera isn't "sharp". This is due to the antialiasing process of the camera. It seems quite strong, but since this camera is targeted for people photographers I believe this is actually a good thing. You don't need ultra sharp skin, you don't wanna see every pore or zit. I used to pixel peep and check for sharpness or some other geeky thing, BUT I lost track of the picture. I guess now I do prefer an unsharp but good picture over a sharp picture with nothing in it.

Here the unedited picture. That's my brother by the way.

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295: NIKON D5000 review...

My thoughts on the D5000

As you might know, I do use Nikon. Or rather the Fuji S5 Pro with Nikon lenses... D200 Body bla bla.
The S5 pro is my workhorse, and a couple of months ago I purchased the Nikon D5000. Mainly to use it as an inexpensive video option (some examples are the DVL videos and the upcoming Leema videos).

Over the last few weeks, especially during my Barcelona trip, I really got to love this camera. It's small body makes it a very nice "take it everywhere" camera. Coupled with the Nikon 35mm 1.8 and a Blackrapid camerastrap I had it with me every time.

Besides it's size I do like the swivel screen. Not because I want to use it in different angles or anything, but more because I can hide the display. I realized that I really concentrate on shooting rather than checking the display all the time.

Never the less it is a consumer camera, it's small size has of course some downsides. Coming from a pro camera, I am used to have all the important functions on different buttons or wheels. But on the D5000 you have to do that within menus or via button combinations. On the other hand it really makes everything more simplistic in the way how you shoot. It's a little like shooting with the Minox...more or less.

It's image quality and especially the ISO quality is very impressive. That cam is definitely always my backup camera during a shot. I do believe that the lenses and the light are more important than the camera itself, although I would love to have a camera with a bigger sensor. Wont have the money for middle format, but 35mm FX will be mine soon hopefully....

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