Whether you’re a keen amateur
photographer or a seasoned pro, these Windows companions will keep you
snap-happy
We think it’s no coincidence that
Spider-Man’s alter ego is a photographer. Like Spidey, photographers need to be
fast and flexible. They need lightweight equipment, and must be prepared for
every opportunity. We can’t promise that this kit will help you fend off the
Green Goblin, but as we’re sure you’ll agree, these picture-perfect performers
could be the Mary Jane to your Peter Parker.
Lenovo Ideapad Yoga
Ever wished you could control a computer by
waving at it? You can with the Yoga, whose clever webcam recognizes hand
gestures. That’s not the only bright idea it has, either: its bright 13-inch
display offers superb viewing angles and accurate colours in an innovative,
shape-changing case. Need a tablet? The Yoga’s a tablet. Need a notebook? The
Yoga’s a notebook. Need something to display your photos? The Yoga can do that
too.
The
Yoga’s secret is a clever hinge that enables it to change its shape to suit
what you want to do
The Yoga’s secret is a clever hinge that
enables it to change its shape to suit what you want to do. In addition to the
traditional notebook mode with a touch-enabled screen – you can also twist the
device into tablet mode, with the keyboard hidden away, or use it in tent mode
– an inverted V shape that’s ideal for slideshows.
The Yoga uses a speedy solid-state drive,
and with a choice of third generation Intel Core i3, ị and i7 processors and
4GB or 8GB of speedy DDR3 memory, it’s a very fast machine – something you’ll
appreciate if you like to work on very high resolution images, or with complex
Photoshop filters. There’s an integrated SD/MMC card reader for quick photo
transfers, fast Wi-Fi for effortless uploading and HDMI output for connecting
to external displays. The Yoga’s USB 3.0 port offers super-speedy connections
for kit like external drives, too.
It’s an excellent and very flexible device,
but if you’d rather buy something a little smaller then Lenovo has good news
for you: it’s about to release an 11-inch Yoga packing a quad-core Tegra 3
processor and running Windows RT.
Asus VivoBook S200
When you buy your first proper camera,
you’ll soon discover that it’s the thin end of the wedge; before long you won’t
want to leave the house without packing lenses, adaptors, flashes, filters,
tripods and anything else that might help you take the perfect picture. The
last thing you need on top of all of that is a heavy laptop, and that’s why the
VivoBook is so attractive: it’s a machine that punches above its weight,
delivering high-end performance and excellent portability at a very reasonable
price.
11.6-inch
widescreen HD display there’s plenty of power for image editing and organizing
The VivoBook may be comparatively titchy at
30.3 x 20 x 217mm and just 1.4kg, but behind the beautifully bright, 11.6-inch
widescreen HD display there’s plenty of power for image editing and organizing.
You can specify the device with an ultra-low power Celeron, Pentium or Intel
Core i3 processor, with up to 4GB of RAM, which is more than enough to keep
Photoshop happy. With up to 500GB of hard disk space, there’s room for stacks
of images – even if you’re shooting in storage-hungry RAW format. The built-in
SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC card reader means you don’t need to carry a separate device to
transfer your photos to the laptop from your camera’s memory card, and the
integrated 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi offers speedy uploading when it’s time to share or
sell your shots. As with all Windows 8 Ultrabooks, the VivoBook offers instant
sleep and resume, and its instant-on feature means it’s ready for action within
just two seconds, even if it’s been asleep for a fortnight.
We’ve saved the best until last: the
VivoBook S200’s screen is finger-friendly, so you can take full advantage of
Windows 8’s amazing touch features. Touch-based zooming enables you to inspect
the tiniest details instantly, while swiping and panning make navigating even
the largest image library effortless.
Sony NEX-F3
The world of cameras used to be fairly
simple: if you wanted something affordable and portable you’d buy a
point-and-shoot compact camera, and if you wanted something flexible that cost
a fortune and weighed a ton you’d buy a digital SLR. Not anymore. Compact system
cameras, also known as hybrid cameras, promise the best of both worlds: the
portability and affordability of compacts and the power and performance of
SLRs.
The
NEX-F3 delivers “professional quality” images
Do these smart snappers deliver? We think they
do. Cameras like Sony’s NEX-F3 have much bigger sensors than traditional
compacts, so they can capture much more detail, and their swappable lenses give
you SLR-style flexibility. You can currently choose from over 30 prime, zoom,
telephoto, wide angle and macro lenses to use with the NEX-F3.
You don’t need to invest in lots of lenses
to take great pictures, though. Thanks to that bigger sensor and Sony’s
wonderfully named BIONZ processor, the standard 18-55mm lens is an excellent
all-rounder that’s surprisingly good even in low light, and with a
16.1-megapixel resolution the level of detail is stunning. Sony says the NEX-F3
delivers “professional quality” images, and reviewers agree that while the
results aren’t quite SLR-quality, they’re not far off. The Sony camera even
delivers decent depth of field effect – something compact cameras are
traditionally very bad at.
In addition to straightforward shooting,
the Sony can also record HD video, and its tilting LCD screen makes awkward
shots considerably less uncomfortable. It shoots in both JPEG and RAW format,
and the camera includes built-in filters called Picture Effects to give your
shots a retro sheen or soften skin tones in portraits. Intelligent Auto mode
does a good job of choosing the best parameters for each photo you take, and if
you want to get stuck in you can change the individual settings manually.
