best items on amazon: مارس 2019

Blaupunkt Launches New Range of Wireless and Wired Earphones

Blaupunkt BTW01 truly wireless earphones are priced at Rs. 5,999

HIGHLIGHTS

German audio specialist Blaupunkt is known for its car audio product
The company also recently launched its range of TVs in India
The Blaupunkt BE-01 Floatz is IPX7 rated for water and dust resistance

Blaupunkt is a brand well known for its automobile audio products, including car audio receivers, speakers, and amplifiers. The German company isn't limited to the business of car audio though, and has a growing range of compact Bluetooth speakers, headphones, earphones, and TVs among other things. Blaupunkt has now launched three new earphones in India - the EM01 wired earphones, BE-01 Floatz wireless earphones, and BTW01 truly wireless earphones - starting from Rs. 499. The products are available both online and offline.

The most expensive product in the new range is the Blaupunkt BTW01 truly wireless earphones, which are priced at Rs. 5,999. The earbuds have touch controls, while the charging case has a 590mAh capacity to fully top up the earbuds three times. The earbuds are also IPX5 rated for water and dust resistance, and support both Google Assistant and Siri for voice assistant features.

The next product in the range is the Blaupunkt BE-10 Floatz, which is priced at Rs. 2,499 online. The product is IPX7 rated for dust and water resistance, ensuring that it can take a significant amount of water exposure without risk of damage. The product is also among the lightest wireless audio products around, weighing less than 10 grams in total. You also get Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity along with a microphone and remote for mobile hands-free use.

The most affordable product in the range is the Blaupunkt EM01, which is set to go on sale at a later date. The product is a wired in-ear headset with a microphone and remote for hands-free calling as well as ease of use. Blaupunkt last year launched its range of LED TVs in India, and many of its products are available to buy online.

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Leica Q2 Full-Frame Camera With 47.3-Megapixel Sensor, 4K Video Recording Launched

Leica Q2 comes with a protective sealing that is touted to resist dust and water spray

HIGHLIGHTS

Leica Q2 price in the US is set at $4,995 (roughly Rs. 3,50,000)
The new Leica camera will go on sale in India in mid-April this year
It comes as a successor to Leica Q that was unveiled back in June 2015

Leica Q2 has debuted as the new entrant in the company's iconic Q series. Just like the first-generation Leica Q that was launched over three years ago, the new model packs a 28mm Summilux ASPH prime lens with an f/1.7 aperture. The Leica Q2, however, packs some upgrades, including 4K video recording support and a larger, 47.3-megapixel full-frame sensor. There is also the ability to simulate focal lengths. The Leica Q2 comes with a price tag of $4,995 (roughly Rs. 3,50,000) and is already on sale in the US. It will reach India around mid-April, the company has announced.

The design of the Leica Q2 is reminiscent of the original Leica Q full-frame camera that was unveiledback in June 2015. There is a classic build that comes with protective sealing against dust and water spray. Nevertheless, the German company has provided some significant changes to the new model to make it easily distinguishable from its predecessor. There is a new thumb rest as well as a diamond pattern on the leather trim.

Among other major changes, the Leica Q2 comes with a 47.3-megapixel image sensor that is capable of not just capturing high-quality stills but also recording 4K videos with frame rates of 30 or 24fps. It can also record full-HD (1080p) videos with a frame rate of 120, 60, 30, or 24fps. Moreover, there is a set of microphones to support stereo audio recording.

In contrast, the Leica Q had a 24-megapixel image sensor. The company has, however, retained the 28mm Summilux f.1.7 ASPH lens in the Q2. The camera also has a 3.68-megapixel OLED viewfinder and a 3-inch TFT monitor with support for touch inputs. leica q2 image Leica Q2

The Leica Q2 is capable of capturing 10 photos per second and comes with an image processor from the Maestro II family. Also, there is a proprietary autofocus system that is touted to lock the focus on a subject in 0.15 seconds. The new Leica camera can also simulate focal lengths such as 35mm, 50mm, and 70mm. It by default, of course, supports the original 28mm of focal length.

Leica has provided the option to save the cropped images with a correspondingly reduced resolution of 47.3, 30, 14.7, or 6.6-megapixels. Furthermore, the camera saves the uncropped image simultaneously in DNG (raw) format with full, 47.3-megapixel resolution.

The Leica Q2 features Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) connectivity. It can also be used with the Leica Fotos app that allows users to share their photos and videos on social media or remotely control the shutter of the camera.

The Leica Q2 has a new shutter release button that controls only the on/ off function. This is unlike the Leica Q that was offering continuous shooting by long-pressing the shutter release button. Nevertheless, the users can access the continuous shooting feature from the camera menu.

The Leica Q2 packs a 1,860mAh battery. Besides, it measures 130x80x91.9mm and weighs 734 grams (with battery).

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Google is never one to skimp on creativity. Every now and then, the search engine sheds its red, yellow, blue and green logo for dates deserving of acknowledgment.

Throughout the year, anniversaries, birthdays and holidays alike are given the royal Google treatment with a dedicated illustration: a Google Doodle.

Since 1998, the doodle team has created more than 2000 drawings, regularly updating the search engine home page.

Here are all the Google Doodles for Australia from 2019. Which one is your favourite?

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

March 8

Let’s hear it for the female trailblazers!Source:Supplied

For International Women’s Day, Google has created an interactive slide show featuring inspirational quotes from female trailblazers.

Among the 13 esteemed icons were Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, Japanese multimedia maverick Yoko Ono and British writer and suffragette Millicent Fawcett.

The doodle was designed by female artists around the globe to emphasise this year’s theme of “women celebrating women”.

Happy International Women’s Day!

OLGA LADYZHENSKAYA’S 97TH BIRTHDAY

March 7

Happy Birthday Olga Ladyzhenskaya!Source:Supplied

Olga Ladyzhenskaya was a Russian mathematician born on March 7, 1922. She was first introduced to maths by her father, and she quickly fell in love with algebra.

When she was 15, Ladyzhenskaya’s father was jailed and executed by Soviet officials for being an “enemy of the state”. Due to his reputation, she was barred from attending the Leningrad State University, despite excellent grades.

Eventually, after years of teaching maths, Ladyzhenskaya was accepted into Moscow State University where she earned her PhD.

After publishing over 250 papers and becoming renowned for her methods of solving differential equations, the Russian Academy of Sciences awarded Ladyzhenskaya the Lomonosov Gold Medal in 2002.

STEVE IRWIN’S 57TH BIRTHDAY

February 22

No, these aren’t tears in my eyes...Source:Supplied

Undeniably an Australian icon, Steve Irwin was depicted in a series of six Google Doodle illustrations for his 57th birthday.

Born in 1962, Irwin dedicated his life to educating others about wildlife, notably reptiles. He quickly rose to fame as a conservationist and TV personality for his work at the Australia Zoo and television series The Crocodile Hunter.

While filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef, Irwin was stabbed by a stingray, ultimately causing his death. The cameraman filming the documentary said the stingray’s barb caused major damage to Irwin’s chest, resulting in blood loss. His last words were “I’m dying”.

After his untimely death, his wife and kids — Terri, Bindi and Robert — continued to advocate for wildlife preservation, carrying on the legacy Irwin had created.

Across the globe, his catchphrase “Crikey!” lives on.

READ MORE: Google Doodle dedicated to late Steve Irwin causes tears

VALENTINE’S DAY

February 14

Love is in the air at Google.Source:Supplied

It’s the romance holiday of the year. In true lovestruck fashion, Google has presented a set of three critter-filled doodles to entertain searchers today in the spirit of “the universal, undeniable power of love”.

For this year’s Valentine’s Day, Google opted to illustrate love through the eyes of an insect. Moral of the doodle? Everyone can find love, even earthworms.

NASI LEMAK

January 31

Nasi lemak is a traditional meal made with rich, fragrant spices and is widely considered the national dish of Malaysia.

The dish, which translates to “rich rice” from Malay, comes with a side of urban legend. According to stories, the daughter of widow Mak Kuntum was cooking rice when she accidentally spilt coconut milk into the pot. When Mak asked what her daughter had cooked up, she replied, “Nasi le, Mak!” Translation: “Rice, mother!”

AUSTRALIA DAY 2019

January 26

All Australians rejoice, for we have a dedicated Google Doodle.Source:Supplied

It would be un-Australian to forgo an illustration on our national day.

In the doodle, Google celebrates Fitzgerald River National Park. Located in Western Australia, the park is known as “the Barrens” and is overflowing with native flora and fauna.

Home to more than 1800 plant species, Fitzgerald River is regarded as one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. Of those hundreds of plant species, 75 cannot be found anywhere else, making the park a global spectacle.

A wide range of animals can also be found in the coastal hills park, including 184 bird species, 41 reptile species, 12 frog species and 22 mammal species.

From Google to the rest of the country: Happy Australia Day!

EVELYN DOVE

January 11

Happy birthday Evelyn Dove!Source:Supplied

Evelyn Dove was a classically trained singer, pianist and actor known for becoming the first black singer to appear on BBC Radio.

Born in 1902, Dove studied at the Royal Academy of Music. As an esteemed student, she graduated with a silver medal in 1919, going on to pursue a career as a jazz musician.

From Paris music halls to Black jazz revues, Dove performed around the world as a popular singer in the 1920s.

In 1939, Dove appeared on the BBC’s Serenade in Sepia, a series that continued for a decade and transcended mediums, eventually becoming a TV show.

FAHRELNISSA ZEID

January 7

It might be hard to spot, but within this geometric design lies the word “Google”.Source:Supplied

On this day, back in 1901, an avant-garde artist by the name of Fahrelnissa Zeid was born on the island of Büyükada in Turkey. After enrolling at the Imperial School of Art in Istanbul, she went on to develop her artistry while travelling through Europe.

Zeid was celebrated for her abstract works, a style she never believed would be her claim to fame.

“I did not ‘intend’ to become an abstract painter,” she once said while reflecting upon her career.

In the 1930s, Zeid married into the Iraqi royal family, becoming a princess. Her marriage led her to uproot from Turkey and move to Germany. Later, World War II forced relocation to Baghdad.

Art critics praised her bold technique and masterful melding of Western and Eastern influences. In 1970, after an esteemed career, Zeid founded the Fahrelnissa Zeid Institute for Fine Arts in Jordan.

The Tate Modern featured an assortment of her works, naming her “one of the greatest female artists of the 20th century”.

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Blackmagic has been making cameras for about six years, ranging from small form-factor film cameras through to pro-grade studio cameras, all with a focus on video.

The Pocket Cinema Camera lineup received a solid reception when it launched, although the sacrifices made in terms of ports and battery life always held the series back.

Now, the

has arrived, combining a new design, a killer port array and better battery life, as well as dual memory card slots in a compact body.

With an Micro Four Thirds lens mount, there’s plenty of fantastic glass you can pick up at launch – from Olympus, Panasonic, Zeiss, Voigtländer, Sigma and others.

Front view of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

Features

At the heart of the Pocket Cinema 4K is a Micro Four Thirds sensor. Unlike some stills cameras with much higher native resolutions that may introduce an annoying crop factor when shooting video, Blackmagic's sensor has a native 4K resolution of 4096 x 2160 that utilises the whole image sensor, so no crop factor. There's also enough processing power to shoot in 4K at 60fps, and Blackmagic claims the sensor is capable of capturing up to 13 stops of dynamic range.

Being very much a video camera first and foremost, there are pro-spec recording formats available, including various compression options of CinemaDNG RAW and Apple's ProRes 422 codec. You also benefit from dual native ISO. Choose between ISO 400 and ISO 3,200 depending on your ambient lighting conditions. Then in post production you can select any ISO between 100 and 1,000 if you shot at ISO 400 in-camera, or there's an ISO range of 1,250 to 25,600 available in post if you originally shot at ISO 3,200. It all translates to amazing dynamic range and editing flexibility.

Power comes from an LP-E6 battery – the same type used in cameras like the Canon 5D IV and 7D II. It's a popular battery form-factor available from a wide variety of manufacturers, so buying extras shouldn't cost the earth. A good thing, since battery life is quoted at only 60 minutes. Fortunately, there's also a 2-pin DC power input that's perfect for studio shoots, when hard-wired power options are a blessing.

Alternatively, you can charge the camera using its USB-C port. While it won’t power the camera live when out shooting, if you have a reasonably new Android phone, you could at least leave the house with just one charger. What's more, the USB port also enables external recording in compressed formats, so you can connect a USB portable SSD for additional storage capacity.

On the subject of storage, the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K features one SDXC card slot and a CFast 2.0 slot, with the latter being the only current card type that can support RAW 4K filming.

A good selection of ports is a must for shooting video, as many will want the ability to connect gear like external mics or a larger video monitor. Fortunately the Pocket Cinema 4K is well stocked for port options. Though it already packs higher-quality microphones (4 in total) than we’ve seen from the Blackmagic Pocket series before, you also get a 3.5mm headphone out and separate 3.5mm microphone in.

While audio can be fed in using the 3.5mm microphone input, the mini XLR port will be a more popular option for video professionals, as its phantom power support means the camera can power an external microphone containing active sound processing. XLR is also an industry-standard connector in the pro video sector that plays nicely with everything from wireless mics through to concert hall audio rigs, adding a huge amount of audio clout to this small camera.

The Pocket Cinema 4K comes with a free copy of Davinci Resolve, so you don’t even need to invest in any pricey software to get cracking with your 4K edits.

rear view of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K with open ports

18.96mm x 10mm MFT (Micro Four Thirds) sensor
MFT lens mount
Dual Native ISO ranges – 400 and 3200
4096 x 2160 (4K DCI), 3840 x 2160 (Ultra HD), 1920 x 1080 (HD) shooting resolutions
13-stops of dynamic range
5-inch Full-HD fixed touchscreen
Integrated stereo microphone
Polycarbonate/carbon fibre composite body
Dual SD/CFast card support
Includes full DaVinci Resolve edit software licence
Blackmagic OS touch interface
Records RAW internally
External recording to USB-C hard drive
LP‑E6 Battery with USB-C charging
Lockable DC port on side – Weipu 2-pin connector

rear three-quarters view of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

Build and handling

Weighing 722g and sporting a retro, 90s aesthetic, the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K is decent feeling bit of kit. Ditching the weather-sealed magnesium alloy of some more premium cameras has kept the weight manageable, though it still packs enough heft to deliver good weighting when steadied in two hands.

The body has a combination of textures, with a ribbed grip for a secure hold. The front of the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K houses the lens mount, a horizontal rotating dial and a new improved dual microphone set-up. There’s also a front-mounted record button and an LED light.

The main topside buttons include a record button and a 4K stills capture button, along with quick access to ISO, shutter angle and white balance. Three handy customisable function buttons are also in easy reach, as too is the power switch.

side view of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

Rigging options aplenty, the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K has a standard tripod thread mount at the base with an additional mount where the hot shoe might be on a stills camera, perfect for an external monitor or LED light.

The incredibly spacious Full HD capacitive touchscreen on the back measures in at five inches, is nice and responsive and showcases Blackmagic OS, the company’s proprietary interface. This is paired with focus-check, HFR, menu and playback physical buttons.

At the base is a battery door which is removable, to the left sits a dual card slot while to the right are all the ports.

Blackmagic pocket cinema camera 4k on a tripod

Performance

With 13-stops of dynamic range and dual native ISOs (ISO 400 and ISO 3,200), the Pocket Camera 4K is tuned to handling noise and retaining tonal detail in situations notoriously hard for video. This also means it’s all set to capture HDR content.

Blackmagic has also created an extended video mode, sitting somewhere between RAW and compressed, which delivers a broader tonal range ready for grading.

In the comparison gallery below you can see how the Pocket Cinema 4K compares to the Canon C300 and a range of high spec stills cameras including other MFT models like the Panasonic GH5S and Olympus OM-D E-M1 II.

The studio test scene is recorded in 4K resolution on all the test cameras, with a still frame extracted for visual comparison. The frame the Pocket Cinema 4K's footage has slightly more muted colours and subdued contrast, but this lends itself well to colour and contrast enhancement in post production.

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 4K

And here are 100% crops from the 4K stills. Default colour from the Pocket Cinema 4K compares favourably to the much more expensive Canon C300. While the Panasonic GH5S and Olympus OM-D E-M1 II both offer more vibrant footage by default, the Pocket Cinema 4K is all about letting you set your own colour preferences during the edit and not be restricted by the camera's own colour rendition.

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 4K - 100% crop from 4K still frame

Canon C300 - 100% crop from 4K still frame

Olympus OM-D E-M1 II - 100% crop from 4K still frame

Panasonic GH5S - 100% crop from 4K still frame

Verdict

In a world of mirrorless stills cameras that can shoot good quality 4K video, the Pocket Cinema 4K can at first see like a less versatile contender. But it's this video-focused ethos that makes it stand out. The ability to shoot Raw video out of the box is something stills cameras rarely offer, and it offers filmmakers and enthusiasts much more retrospective control over their productions.

Then there's Micro Four Thirds (MFT) sensor and lens mount. This gives you a huge choice of compatible lenses, and by using a sensor with a native 4K resolution, whichever optic you fit, crop factor will be negligible. The same can't be said for a stills camera like the Canon 5D IV.

Downsides? Shooting Raw video is great for those willing to put in the time in post in order to get the best possible colour and dynamic range, but if you just want attractive footage straight out of the camera, a stills camera like the Panasonic GH5S is still a good bet.

It's a pity Blackmagic hasn’t included continuous autofocus, so Canon is still winning this battle. The lack of ND filter also means if you need to flit between shooting indoors and outdoors at a moment’s notice regularly, you will still be better served with something like a Cinema EOS C100.

That said, it always comes back to bang for buck with the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. When you consider the fact you have a mini XLR audio input as well as USB-C storage support for recording to hard drives, a full sized HDMI port and dual card slots, the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K leapfrogs the competition in almost every video-centric area.

When you consider that the camera also ships with a full licence for Davinci Resolve, an excellent bit of pro video-editing software that costs £239, the Pocket Cinema 4K is quite a bargain. If you want to get serious about video and have a film-making tool that can grow with your skill, this is the new benchmark.

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