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CHICAGO — Batteries made in America for America and backed by America. That’s how politicians hailed Ener1.

The company tapped the country’s top scientists at Argonne National Lab in Illinois, and U.S. taxpayers pledged up to $118 million in federal stimulus funds and $80 million in state and local incentives to help Ener1 produce cutting-edge Canon Digital Ixus v3 Battery technology for electric cars and the U.S. military.

“This is about the future. And the question is which nation is going to seize the future. Some nation is going to grab it by the throat. One of the nations of the world is going to lead the world in green energy and technology,” Vice President Joe Biden said in January 2011 in a speech praising federal support for Ener1 at its facility in Indiana.

That nation, in this case, is Russia.

A little more than a year after Biden’s visit to Ener1′s Indiana manufacturing plant, the company’s technology is owned outright by Boris Zingarevich, a Russian businessman with ties to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a fact that concerns some technology experts in the U.S.

Zingarevich acquired Ener1 out of bankruptcy March 30 with an agreement to infuse $81 million in financing, giving him a sophisticated line of Olympus Li-50b batteries that can power electric cars, store electricity for power grids and supply portable power for soldiers. His plans for Ener1 aren’t known. A company spokesman declined to comment, saying Ener1 is privately held. Zingarevich couldn’t be reached for comment.

The deal for Ener1 shows how the global economy can blur the lines between private business and national interest.

While there have been instances of Russian nationals accused of using illegal means to acquire U.S. technology, U.S. government officials said there is no law that bans transferring technology paid for by U.S. taxpayers to foreigners.

Wealthy Russians are major investors in the U.S., owning stakes in companies such as Facebook and Twitter, and Zingarevich was Ener1′s largest shareholder from the beginning in 2002. Yet there is a big difference between being a shareholder and gaining control of a company.

“In a company whose ownership is connected to Medvedev, you have a golden opportunity for a military technology transfer and, perhaps, civil transfer from the U.S. to Russia at no cost,” said Stephen Blank, an expert on Russia and a research professor of national security affairs for the Strategic Studies Institute at the United States Army War College.

Under Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Blank said, Russia has expanded efforts to obtain high-tech energy-related technology from the U.S. through both illicit and legal means as Russia tries to reduce its reliance on hydrocarbons. Russia is second only to China in trying to gain high-tech information related to military uses, energy generation and manufacturing, according to the U.S. Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive.

In the case of Ener1, neither the Department of Energy nor the Navy checked on foreign ownership before awarding the company grants and research and development contracts. The Army, which also awarded contracts, said individual employees underwent routine background checks as contractors, but scrutinizing the company’s ownership structure was not part of its purview.

The Department of Energy, in an email, said it was only interested in whether the company could successfully produce and sell its batteries. The Navy said it didn’t place restrictions on foreign access to the company’s work on unmanned aerial vehicles, a highly sought-after technology, according to the intelligence community, or to ACER Aspire 9300 series Laptop AC Adapter battery technology that could be used to track U.S. military personnel.

Despite the fact that the company’s Russian investment didn’t worry the DOE or Pentagon, others in the U.S. government were concerned about Russian participation for some time.

Citing national security concerns, U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, is seeking internal documents from the White House, Department of Energy, Ener1 and its EnerDel Sony HDR-SR10/E Charger battery unit, his office confirmed.

“There is definitely a growing concern about a foreign-controlled or owned company attempting to gain a foothold into our supply chain in the United States,” said Stearns, whose subcommittee held a hearing March 27 about such threats. “We need to make sure the federal government isn’t an unwitting accomplice to the theft of our own national secrets by providing them with multimillion-dollar government grants,” he said in a statement, referring to battery technology produced in concert with U.S. scientists.

The U.S. has been leery of foreign control of U.S. energy companies in the past. In 2005, a bid by a Chinese government-owned firm to purchase Unocal, then the ninth-largest U.S. oil and gas producer, set off a firestorm of political controversy. CNOOC Ltd. had outbid Chevron Corp. by about $1.5 billion for Unocal. But after concerns were raised that the transaction was little more than a thinly masked move by China to corner oil supplies, CNOOC withdrew its bid.

Ener1 marks the second major case of the U.S. losing control of a stimulus project. The Department of Energy’s $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra to produce solar panels was aimed at spurring alternative energy growth in the U.S. and to lessen dependence on fossil fuels. Instead, competition from China felled Solyndra last year, which left the U.S. to pay the bill.

“Instead of producing thousands of ‘clean energy’ jobs, the administration’s loan guarantee and grant programs are yielding bankruptcies and the squandering of taxpayer dollars,” Stearns said. “Only two days after President Obama highlighted federal investments in high-tech Panasonic Nv-ds15 Battery in his State of the Union address earlier this year, Ener1 joined Solyndra, Beacon Power, Evergreen Solar, SpectraWatt and AES in bankruptcy — all recipients of taxpayer dollars.”

Biden’s office declined to comment and referred questions to the Energy Department.

Mary Anne Sullivan, who previously served as DOE general counsel and now heads law firm Hogan Lovells’ energy regulatory practice in Washington, D.C., said: “You want the government to be where the private sector sees a risk they won’t take. But it calls for judgment. There is no formula that tells you, “Yes, this will succeed,’ or, ‘No, this won’t.’ ”

Ener1, based in New York City but with manufacturing operations in Indiana, began working on Panasonic Nv-ds15 batteries for hybrid electric vehicles in June 2009. With the promise of creating manufacturing jobs, the company received access to Argonne scientists and DOE funding.

Theodore O’Neill, senior vice president of alternative energy for Wunderlich Securities, said it is unlikely the battery technology Ener1 developed was any more high-tech than what Russia had already acquired or developed.

Ilias Belharouak, an Argonne researcher who worked on the battery project, said the company didn’t move forward with battery production because by then the auto industry had introduced plug-in vehicles, and the company’s batteries were too heavy.

The technology, however, is ideally suited to storing energy for the electrical grid, said Belharouak. Such ACER 0335A1965 Laptop AC Adapter batteries can provide backup power as well as store energy produced by the wind and sun. “It has the safety, it has the power, and the cost of the technology is very, very attractive,” Belharouak said.

In its March 31, 2011, filing, Ener1 listed the Russian electric grid as its largest battery customer. The company first agreed to supply lithium-ion battery units in 2010. Last fall, then-CEO Charles Gassenheimer said the company was negotiating a second “substantially large order” from the Russians. That same year a Russian state-owned bank accepted 40 percent of Ener1′s common stock as collateral for $24 million in loans, with an option to go up to $100 million total, according to filings.

Ener1 stood to reap $118.5 million from the DOE to produce HP Pavilion dv9700 AC Adapter batteries for electric vehicles. So far it has collected $55 million and could receive more if it adds to its U.S. workforce of 275 under its contract, according to the DOE.

In an emailed statement, the Energy Department said Ener1′s project was selected “based on the merit and commercialization potential of its batteries.”

“We need to invent them here, make them here and sell them around the world. That’s just what (the) battery manufacturing facility is doing, and that’s why both the company and the project have received strong bipartisan support,” Jen Stutsman, spokeswoman for the Energy Department, said last month.

The DOE added that during a financial due-diligence check it did not find any issues requiring further investigation.

Michael Grosberg, chief operating officer of Global Technology Systems Inc., a Massachusetts-based maker of industrial and military Canon mv750i Battery and energy control systems, said, “The U.S. government should act immediately to ensure more taxpayer dollars are not lost and U.S. security is not compromised.”

Technology experts are raising concerns about nearly $8 million in military contracts the company received, including a Navy contract for research and development related to unmanned aerial vehicles.

In 2006, according to filings, Ener1 also was awarded a $1 million Department of Defense contract for asset tracking, a technology used to track people carrying battery-powered devices.

The tracking systems in military Apple a1106 Battery packs are designed to protect personnel. For instance, if a soldier stops moving, falls down or is running out of battery power, technology inside his or her radio automatically alerts a command center. The Navy said prototype batteries were produced but not used and do not pose a threat to U.S. military personnel or civilians.

But some believe the technology could pose a threat to national security, as it can be used to track troop movements or anyone who has devices that contain those batteries.

“I live in that world,” said Daniel Engels, a chief technology officer for Revere Security, a technology security firm. “We need to stop thinking about batteries as just a battery. As soon as they become intelligent, they become a potential entry point into your system.”

Through such Acer Aspire 5738z batteries, he said, an enemy could even remotely turn off lines of communication.

Russia ranks second to China in spying in the U.S., according to a 2011 report from the Office of National Counterintelligence Executive. The case that made the biggest splash occurred two years ago, when 10 agents of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Office were arrested after collecting information related to U.S. technology and intelligence. Other cases have involved bribes for automotive and helicopter technology, the report said.

WARREN, Mich. (AP) — Two employees were injured Wednesday in a lithium Universal External Laptop Battery explosion that forced the evacuation of about 80 others at a General Motors Co. facility north of Detroit, authorities said.

The explosion at the Alternative Energy Center laboratory at the GM Tech Center in Warren also caused a small fire that was quickly extinguished.

The Tech Center, a sprawling 1950s-era campus, is home to the battery laboratory for the Chevrolet Volt electric car, but GM said in a statement that the explosion was “unrelated to the Chevrolet Volt or any other production vehicle.”

“The incident was related to extreme testing on a prototype Dell XPS M1210 battery,” the automaker said. Authorities are investigating.

Dispatchers received calls about the explosion at 8:46 a.m. and firefighters arrived five minutes later, Warren Fire Chief Dave Frederick said.

“They reported light smoke … and some small amount of fire,” Frederick said. “It was confined to the room of the explosion.”

One worker was taken to an area hospital, while the second was treated at the scene. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known. Five employees also were being evaluated by medical personnel at the scene, GM said.
tags: battery for Dell INSPIRON 700M, Sony PCGA-BP2NX battery, battery for Dell LATITUDE C810 , HP PAVILION ZD7000 battery, Acer aspire 4738z battery

Dell has a lot of faith in the XPS 13, its first entry into the emerging Ultrabook class of superthin laptops. Compared to what we’re used to seeing from Dell, it’s a design marvel: thin, light, sleek, and well built with high-quality materials. It looks good, feels good, and performs well. If not for its disappointing display quality and a few minor trackpad issues, the XPS 13 would qualify as the best Ultrabook yet. Even with those drawbacks, it’s one of the best Ultraportables around, but I can’t recommend it unreservedly.
The version of the XPS 13 that I tested is the entry-level model. For $999, you get a Core i5-2467M with Intel integrated graphics, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB solid-state drive. For $300 more, you can upgrade to a 256GB SSD; and another $200 will boost the CPU to a dual-core Core i7. Our baseline configuration proved to be pretty zippy on its own, delivering a strong WorldBench 7 score of 136 (see “How We Test PCs”). Chalk that performance up to the SSD, which helps the system boot up in about 17 seconds and performs basic file operations very speedily. In our laptop battery tests, the system lasted just a hair under 6.5 hours. However, that number drops precipitously if you crank up the screen brightness, which can get quite bright.

The design and build quality are a cut above anything we’ve seen from Dell in a long time, and among the best we’ve seen in any thin-and-light laptop on the market. The base, composed of carbon fiber, has a pleasant soft-touch feel, and it hides the obnoxious service tag info under a flip-up metal plate for a cleaner look. The matte-black magnesium-alloy keyboard deck and the aluminum lid add rigidity where it’s needed. The whole machine weighs 3 pounds–nearly the same as Apple’s 13-inch Macbook Air. Dell’s system, despite having a 13.3-inch screen, is actually shorter and narrower than Apple’s, thanks to the extremely narrow bezel around the edge. Dell likes to say that it put a 13-inch screen into an 11-inch chassis, which is a bit of a stretch, but the laptop’s compactness is impressive. The XPS 13 felt solid and dense in my hands, and it didn’t flex at all.

If you’re into games, you had best look elsewhere. Lacking a discrete graphics chip, the XPS 13 delivered unsatisfactory performance in modern 3D games. To achieve playable framer rates in games at the display’s native resolution of 1366 by 768, you have to dial the details down to their lowest setting. Even then, with some strenuous games, you can’t get a good experience. Thus far, ultrabooks simply aren’t for gamers.
I was quite impressed by the keyboard. Most ultrathin laptops’ keyboards don’t support fast, accurate typing, but the one on the XPS 13 permitted me to click away at full speed. It’s even backlit. The trackpad was another story. With the initial release driver, it seemed quite finicky. Set the sensitivity so that the cursor responds well, and it will jump around the screen as you type, due to poor palm detection. Lower the sensitivity to remove that problem, and the cursor stops responding to your touch. I got my hands on a new driver and calibration program (which Dell says will be on its site soon), which greatly improved the situation. The trackpad still isn’t among the best I’ve used, but it’s no longer a major weakness.

The display, on the other hand, remains a serious shortcoming. How Dell could make such a solid, attractive, well-performing laptop and then hamstring it with a crummy display is beyond me. The resolution is a bit on the low side–we’re used to seeing 1440 by 900 or 1600 by 900 on premium 13-inch laptops. Though 1366 by 768 isn’t uncommon, it’s not the luxurious high-end spec that Dell ought to have aimed for on a laptop like this one. The average resolution is acceptable, but the visual quality is harder to tolerate. When I moved off-axis to the left or right, colors shifted dramatically. When I opened the lid to the wrong angle, the contrast and brightness went haywire. When I looked closely at certain gradients, I could see the spaces in the grid of pixels. Ultimately this is a mediocre LCD panel covered with pretty edge-to-edge glass. It’s not a dealbreaker, just a disappointment.
The audio deserves special mention, if only because it may be the best sound I’ve heard from a 3-pound Ultrabook. It gets quite loud, and sounds fairly good, considering the design constraints on speaker size and placement. You’ll never get big bass or room-filling music from a laptop this small, but the loudness and clarity of the XPS 13′s speakers belies the tiny package they come in.
From a design perspective, the XPS 13 is a fantastic addition to Dell’s lineup, establishing a new bar that Dell should aim to clear with its future products. The laptop is attractive, solid, and fast. Dell Battery life is good if you don’t go crazy with the screen brightness. Audio is better than you’d expect, and the keyboard and trackpad (after the driver update) don’t disappoint. With better display quality, it would be a slam-dunk. Unfortunately, the middling resolution, iffy color reproduction, and poor off-axis viewing leave a considerable stain on what would otherwise be a five-star product. Let’s hope that Dell releases a revised version this summer that carries Intel’s Ivy Bridge chips and a better display.
dell xps laptop bttery: 

• XPS M1210
• XPS M1330
• XPS M1530
• XPS M170
• XPS M1730
• XPS M2010

source from blog: Dell XPS 13: One of the Best Ultrabooks Yet

• Pros

Very good image quality for a compact camera. Optical viewfinder. Manual controls. Articulating LCD.

• Cons Pricey. Bulky. Small sensor for such a big camera.
• Bottom Line

The Canon PowerShot G12′s images and features are excellent for a point-and-shoot camera, but at its size and price, you can get far better

Just a few years ago, the PowerShot G12′s predecessors were the cat’s meow—Canon’s point-and-shoot G Series cameras looked and felt like digital SLRs, with manual controls and optical viewfinders packed into smaller-than-D-SLR bodies. Flash forward to 2011, and you’ll find a handful of digital cameras that are nearly the same size and price as the 10-megapixel G12 ($499.99 list), but pack image sensors five to eight times larger, and take much better pictures. The G12 delivers image quality that competes with the best point and shooters. The thing is, though, these days, other cameras of this size and price can deliver D-SLR-quality images. If you want a small camera, you can get similar image quality for less with the Canon LP-E6 ($399.99, 4 stars). If you want higher-quality images, your $500 buys the much-more-talented, interchangeable-lens Sony CCD-TRV218E Charger($549, 4.5 stars). Simply put, in 2011, the Canon G12 just doesn’t make as much sense as it once did.
At 3.0 by 4.41 by 1.9 inches, the G12 isn’t pocketable. These days, there’s only one reason a camera should be this bulky: a giant image sensor. And the G12 doesn’t have one; its image sensor is the same size as the much-smaller Canon PowerShot S95—1/1.7-inch (43mm²). The $599.99 Casio NP-40 (3.5 stars, $599.99 ) and the Sony NEX-3 offer much larger sensors in similar-sized bodies—so you get better images. Also, these cameras are a lot faster.
The upside of the G12′s big body is that it’s got plenty of room, to accommodate a dial for almost every manual control. There are two dials on top of the camera dedicated to controlling exposure compensation and ISO sensitivity. On the G12′s front, you’ll find a horizontally mounted dial for your index finger, and on the back right there’s one for your thumb—they control aperture and shutter speed. All of these controls make for a pleasant D-SLR-like shooting experience.
There’s an optical viewfinder on the G12, which is tough to find on a point-and-shoot camera these days, though this one’s a bit different. It’s actually a second lens, with optical zoom, that moves back and forth in conjunction with the main lens. Optical viewfinders on most D-SLRs give you a view through the lens (the light through the lens is reflected up to the viewfinder), so what you see in the viewfinder is as big and as bright as the image you’ll capture. This is not the case with the viewfinder on the G12, which is a small, low-quality lens. If you frame your shots with the viewfinder, the image you’ll capture is slightly lower. If you prefer optical viewfinders to LCDs, resist the urge with the G12.
Fortunately, you have the high-res, articulating LCD on the back of the camera to frame shots. The 2.8-inch display packs in 461,000 dots, and can swing out and rotate 270 degrees so you can view it above your head or below your waist.
The G12 is Canon’s most-expensive PowerShot, but its lens isn’t high-end. It offers 5x optical zoom via a 28-140mm (35mm equivalent) range, with corresponding aperture of f/2.8-f/4.5. The Canon S95 has the same image sensor but a more desirable lens, its 28-105mm is able to open to f/2.0 in the wide-angle position. The brighter lens means the S95 can take in more light, so it produces better photos in low light without a flash. Coupled with the fact that the S95 is small enough to fit in your pocket, it’s tough to see why, if you value image quality, you’d choose the G12 over the S95.
Performance
The G12 is quick, but it’s no speed demon. The camera powers on and captures its first shot in an average of 2.4 seconds, and once on, it averages 0.6 second of shutter lag and 2.9 seconds of wait time between shots. The similarly priced Sony NEX-3 is, by comparison, blazing fast, powering up and shooting in an average of 2 seconds. Also, the NEX-3 showed only 0.1 second of shutter lag, and averaged 2.3 frames per second in our tests.
In the PC Labs we use the Imatest suite to objectively measure image quality, and the G12 scored very well for a point-and-shoot camera. In terms of sharpness, it delivered a center-weighted average of 2,049 lines per picture height. That’s as sharp as point and shoots get (even better than the S95′s 1,858), though the Sony NEX offered slightly better score of 2,248.
The G12′s noise performance was also good. If Imatest measures over 1.5 percent noise, the image will likely be visibly grainy. The G12 can travel up to ISO 1600 without noisy images—excellent performance for a compact camera. ISO 3200 is also below 1.5 percent, but the images are reduced to a 2.5-megapixel resolution, thanks to in-camera software-based noise reduction. To compare, you can crank the NEX-3 up to ISO 3200 and stay below 1.5 percent noise with 14.2-megapixel images. Since the NEX-3 also has a larger sensor, the images at higher ISOs are sharper and offer a larger dynamic range.
Video is captured in high definition (720p30) as .MOV files that can be natively uploaded to YouTube and Facebook. Using optical zoom or refocusing while recording, as with most cameras, is not possible. Like with still image quality, video quality from Micro Four Thirds or other compact interchangeable lens cameras like the NEX-3, exceeds what you get with the G12. And with these cameras you can adjust the aperture, focus, and optical zoom while recording.
In true Canon style, connectivity options are plentiful on the G12. There is a standard mini-USB port for connecting to PCs, and a standard mini-HDMI for playback on HDTVs. There’s also a hotshoe on top of the camera to add external flashes and other accessories.
Overall, the $500 PowerShot G12 isn’t a bad performer—for a point-and-shoot camera. But it’s bigger and more expensive than most compact cameras. Micro Four Thirds and Sony NEX cameras, which pack big sensors in same-size bodies for similar prices offer better images, better performance, and a better shooting experience. In fact, pictures from the G12 aren’t even that much better than from some lower-end PowerShot models, like the S95.
related camera tags: camera batteries, Canon EOS 5D Charger, Canon Digital IXUS 75 Charger, Canon NB-7L Battery, Panasonic NV-GS17 Battery, Samsung L310W Charger, Canon LP-E8 battery, Canon NB-5L battery, Sony NP-BN1 Charger, Canon NB-6L battery, Sony NP-BG1 Charger 

If you’re feeling limited by what your point-and-shoot camera can do, there are plenty of reasons to consider a D-SLR. These advanced shooters feature larger image sensors, superior optics, robust manual controls, faster performance, and the versatility of changeable lenses. All this added functionality doesn’t come cheap, though, the cost of a D-SLR can add up, especially when you start buying lenses. And the cameras are understandably larger and heavier than their compact and mirrorless interchangeable lens counterparts. You also need to remember that you’re buying into a camera system. If your first D-SLR is a Canon, chances are that your next one will be as well, simply for the fact that you’ll be able to make use of existing lenses and accessories. Here are the most important aspects to consider when you’re shopping for a digital SLR:
Understanding Sensor Size
Most consumer D-SLRs use image sensors that, while much larger than those found in point-and-shoot cameras, are somewhat smaller than a 35mm film frame. This can be a bit confusing when talking about a camera’s field of view, as focal lengths for compacts are often expressed in terms of 35mm equivalency. The standard APS-C sensor features a “crop factor” of 1.5x. This means that the 18-55mm kit lens that is bundled with most D-SLRs covers a 35mm-equivalent field of view equivalent to 27-82.5mm. If you’re upgrading from a point-and-shoot that has a 3x zoom lens that starts at about 28mm, the D-SLR kit lens will deliver approximately the same field of view.
There are many inherent advantages to a larger sensor. It allows you to better control the depth of field in images, making it possible to isolate your subject and create a blurred background. This blur is often referred to by the Japanese term bokeh. Much has been written about the quality of the bokeh created by different lenses, but the general rule of thumb is that the more light a lens can capture—measured numerically as its aperture, or f-number—the blurrier the background can be. A lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.4 lets in six times as much light as one of f/4, and can create a shallower depth of field at an equivalent focal length and shooting distance.
Another reason to go for the big sensor is to minimize image noise. A 14-megapixel D-SLR has much larger pixels than a point-and-shoot of the same resolution. These larger pixels allow the sensor to be set at a higher sensitivity, measured numerically as ISO, without creating as much image noise. Another advantage to the larger surface area is that changes in color or brightness are more gradual than that of a point-and-shoot. This allows more natural-looking images with a greater sense of depth.
Some professional D-SLRs, like the Canon 5D Mark II (Best Deal: $2,929.95 at FumFie.com)feature sensors that are equal in size to 35mm film. These full frame cameras are much more expensive than their APS-C counterparts. If you do see yourself moving up to a full frame camera in the future, be careful in buying lenses. Some lenses are designed to be used with APS-C sensors. Canon refers to its APS-C lens line as EF-S, while lenses that cover full frame are EF. Nikon takes a similar approach, calling APS-C lenses DX and full frame lenses FX. Sony, the only other manufacturer that currently offers a full frame D-SLR camera, adds a DT designation to its APS-C-only lenses.
Choose a Camera That Feels Right
It’s very important to choose a camera that feels comfortable in your hands. While most D-SLRs are similar in size and build, the styling of the handgrip, position of controls, and other ergonomic features can differ drastically. The camera you choose should be one that you are most comfortable using. If a D-SLR is too big or small for you to hold comfortably, or if the controls are not laid out in a way that makes sense to you, chances are that you won’t enjoy shooting as much as you should.
Get the Best Viewfinder
By definition, a D-SLR features an optical viewfinder that shows you the exact image that the camera’s lens is capturing—but not all of these viewfinders are created equal. A mirror directs light from the lens to the viewfinder, which is one of two types. The first, the pentamirror, is generally found on entry-level cameras like the CASIO NP-20 Battery (Best Deal: $799.00 at PCNation)and CANON EOS 350D Battery . This type of viewfinder uses three mirrors to redirect the image to your eye, flipping it so that it appears correct, as opposed to the upside down and backwards image that the lens is actually capturing.
The second type of optical viewfinder is the pentaprism. This is a solid glass prism that does the same job as the pentamirror. A pentaprism is generally heavier and brighter than a pentamirror. The extra brightness makes it easier to frame images and to confirm that your photo is in focus. Pentaprisms usually start appearing in mid-range D-SLRs, like the Canon EOS 60D (Best Deal: $1,149.95 at FumFie.com), and are standard issue on pro bodies like the Nikon D300s (Best Deal: $1,889.00 at BUYDIG.com).
You should also pay attention to magnification and coverage numbers for pentaprism finders, as they give you an idea of the actual size of the finder and how much of the captured image can be seen. In both cases you’ll want to look for a higher number.
Another Option: The EVF
A few cameras on the market offer a third viewfinder option—an electronic viewfinder. Sony cameras that feature fixed, translucent mirrors, like the CANON NP-E3 battery(Best Deal: $699.99 at Dell), are referred to as SLTs. Rather than redirecting light to your eye, the semi-transparent mirror in these cameras redirects it to an autofocus sensor. If you aren’t set on an optical finder, these cameras are worth considering. Models that use OLED EVF technology, like the Sony Alpha65, produce a viewfinder image that is brighter and crisper than pentamirror finders, but not quite up to the same level of optical quality as a good pentaprism.
Continuous Shooting and Autofocus Speed
D-SLRs have another big advantage over point-and-shoots—speed. The time that it takes between hitting the shutter button and the camera capturing a picture, referred to as shutter lag, and the wait time between taking photos—recycle time—are often concerns with compact cameras. D-SLRs generally focus very quickly and deliver shutter lag that is nearly immeasurable.
Continuous shooting is measured in frames per second. At minimum, you should look for a camera that can shoot 3 frames per second, although sports and nature shooters will want to look for a camera that can shoot faster than 5 frames per second. Of course, the autofocus system has to be able to keep up with the frame rate. Basic D-SLRs like the CANON UC-V20HI Camcorder Batteries often only have a few autofocus points, which can slow performance. Continuous shooting and autofocus performance go hand-in-hand, so it is important to look for a camera that does both well.
Live View and HD Video
Video recording, which was unheard of for D-SLRs prior to the release of the Nikon D90 years ago, is now a standard feature. When shopping for a D-SLR, look for one that continues to autofocus while recording. You should also check its autofocus speed when taking photos using live view, as that can often be very slow. A microphone input jack is important if you plan on using the video function often—an external mic will capture much better sound than the camera’s built-in microphone.
Be Realistic about Lenses and Accessories
Most first-time D-SLR users aren’t going to purchase a whole bevy of lenses, but there are a few to consider to supplement the kit lens that ships with the camera. The first is a telezoom to complement the standard 18-55mm lens. There is usually a matching zoom, starting at 55mm and ranging up to 200mm or 300mm, that will help you get tighter shots of distant action. Plan on budgeting $200-300 for this lens.
Another popular lens choice is a fast, normal-angle prime lens. Before zooms were popular, film SLRs were often bundled with a 50mm f/2 lens. Because of the smaller sensor in consumer D-SLRs, a 35mm f/2 is the current equivalent. The normal-angle gives you a field of view that is not far off from that of your eye, and the fast aperture makes it possible to shoot in lower light, and to isolate your subject by blurring the background of your photos. Prices for these lenses vary a bit depending on your camera system, but expect it to run you between $175 and $350.
Even though consumer D-SLRs have built-in flashes as a rule, many photographers opt to use a more powerful external flash. These flashes emit more light and can often be repositioned so that you can use reflected light to illuminate a subject. Bouncing flash off of a ceiling to brighten a room is possible with a dedicated flash unit, but not with the ubiquitous D-SLR pop-up flash. Depending on your needs for power, recycle time, and movement, dedicated flash units can cost anywhere from $150 to $500.
Is a D-SLR Too Big?
Want speed and top-notch images, but don’t want to haul a heavy D-SLR? You may also want to consider a Compact Interchangeable Lens (CILC) camera, like our Editors’ Choice Sony Alpha NEX-C3 (Best Deal: $524.95 at great-batteries.com). That camera packs the same APS-C sensor found in a D-SLR into a more compact package, but it lacks an optical or electronic viewfinder—you’ll need to use the rear LCD to frame photos. This newer class of cameras, which launched by Olympus and Panasonic with the Micro Four Thirds standard, relies on live view to rather than optical viewfinders. This makes it possible to pack larger sensors into smaller bodies, giving you many of the image quality advantages of a D-SLR without the added bulk. You’ll want to pay attention to sensor size, as they vary between formats—Micro Four Thirds cameras and the Nikon J1 (Best Deal: $746.95 at Adorama)system feature sensors that are smaller than those in a D-SLR, and the tiny Pentax Q (Best Deal: $649.00 at Adorama)uses a point-and-shoot-sized image sensor, but adds the benefit of interchangeable lenses. You won’t save a ton of money on a CILC, as current models are priced between $500 and $900. But if you’re willing to skip the traditional optical viewfinder, a mirrorless camera might strike the perfect balance between point-and-shoot and digital SLR.
If you do opt for a D-SLR, following our guidelines will help you to choose the camera and lens system that fits your needs and your budget. Just be sure to take time and research your purchase, and go to the store and pick up a couple of cameras to see which feels best. Finally, before you settle on a single camera, read our recent D-SLR reviews, and check out The 10 Best Digital Cameras for the top digital SLRs we’ve tested.

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