Samsung Galaxy S5 and Gear Fit: First impressions

Samsung is banking on people shaping up this spring.

The company on Monday unveiled its new Galaxy S5 smartphone, which is set to go on sale in April, along with a pair of fitness-themed watches. And many of the features included on the devices focus on fitness.

Considering America's continued fascination with fitness and fitness products, this is probably a good idea. What Samsung has attempted to do is combine the best attributes of the top-of-the-line fitness trackers currently on the market with those of its own phones and smartwatches.

The S5 and the watches were unveiled at an event at the Mobile World Congress wireless show in Barcelona, Spain. I had a chance to briefly test out all three products in New York on Monday.

The Galaxy S5 includes a built-in heart rate monitor, pedometer and fitness tracker, though I'm not sure how useful they actually are. For instance, to check your heart rate, you hold your finger over a sensor on the back of the phone - something I can't imagine doing in the middle of a jog.

True fitness buffs will probably head straight for Samsung's Gear Fit smartwatch, which also does all of those things, but in a much more user-friendly way. Want to check your heart rate? Just open up the app for that and it gives you a reading within seconds.

While many people have become accustomed to wearing fitness bands either constantly or for their workouts, I think a lot of them would balk at going running with, or perpetually being tethered to, a phone as big as the S5.

It's worth mentioning too that the Fit Gear is very nicely styled. I have to admit, I wasn't a fan of Samsung's first Galaxy Gear smartwatch, because it felt heavy and clunky and was just too big for a normal-sized woman's wrist. But the Fit solves that problem. It's thin, light and features a curved color screen. If you don't mind wearing something like a Fitbit Force or a Nike FuelBand, you won't mind this product either.

The trade-off is you can't place or answer a call from the Fit, but it will notify you of things like calls, emails and text messages. There's also no camera.

Samsung's new Gear 2 watch also comes with basic fitness features including the heart rate monitor and pedometer. While it's still too chunky for me, it is significantly lighter and thinner than the original version. Unlike the Fit, you can still place calls from it and shoot pictures and video from its camera.

And unlike Samsung's first smartwatch, the new ones pair with a host of Samsung phones, giving consumers more options for their primary device.

Samsung also plans to introduce a slightly cheaper version called the Gear 2 Neo, which won't have a camera or come in as many colors. The company has yet to announce pricing for any of the new products.

Fitness aside, the S5 phone includes some other significant upgrades from its predecessor. Some of the biggest changes are in its camera. Its 16 megapixels make it sharper than the S4, which had just 13. It's also designed to focus faster and lets you blur the foreground or background of an image to emphasize a subject.

The phone also has a fingerprint sensor to use in place of a passcode to unlock the phone or make mobile payments. And it is splash and dust resistant, which is bound to prolong the phone's life for many people.

An added incentive for parents is the phone's "Kids Mode," which lets you hand your phone off to your child without fear that they'll stream something inappropriate from your Netflix cue or access your email.

In short, the S5's improvements might be enough to entice current Samsung fans to upgrade their devices, while its fitness features could draw some converts as well, especially those interested in purchasing a smartwatch to go along with it.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Review & Price

Design: More of the same
In designing the Galaxy S5, Samsung didn't go very far for inspiration. In fact, the Galaxy S5's body looks even more like the Galaxy S4 than the GS4 did the Galaxy S3. It has rounded edges, the same steep sides with shiny and ridged silvery trim, and a slightly more rounded central home button shape to the S4's more rectangular outline.

The back panel motif is different, I'll give Samsung that. Tiny dimples cover the rear, and in addition to white and black (oh excuse me, Charcoal Black and Shimmery White), the GS4 will also launch in enticing copper and bright blue. Not every market or carrier will sell each shade, but at least Samsung has decided to expand its color palette to some more lively hues.

At the end of the day, the phone still feels like it always has: like plastic. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but if Samsung is at all striving for loftier ambitions, it hasn't reached those heights.

Samsung has also slightly redesigned the Micro-USB housing on the bottom of the phone; it now has a cover. Up top the IR blaster makes it triumphant return, and on the back, the heart rate monitor cleverly integrates with the camera's LED flash.

Samsung will initially launch the Galaxy S5 in four colors

The GS5 is only a fraction larger than the Galaxy S4 -- 5.1 inches versus the GS4's 5-inch display. This new phone, too, has a 1080p HD AMOLED display, so the screen's pixel density will be just a breath looser, though you'll never notice the difference.

The Galaxy S5 measures 142mm by 72.5mm by 8.1mm -- or 5.59 inches tall by 2.85 inches wide by 0.32-inch deep -- and weighs 145 grams, or 5.1 ounces. It's taller and heavier than the Galaxy S4 as a result of its extra hardware.

Break out the supersoakers, kids. Feedback about the waterproof Galaxy S4 Active prompted Samsung to make the Galaxy S5 waterproof and dust-proof in alliance with military spec IP67, which means that it can take a bath for up to 30 minutes at about 3 feet down.

TouchWiz gets a face lift
We'd heard rumors that Samsung was overhauling the TouchWiz interface that rides over Android, something I've been wanting for a long time now. While the changes are't sweeping, there are some tweaks that freshen up the look and feel, and one area that gets a complete visual redo.

Samsung reskinned a few menus, like this Setting menu, for the Galaxy S5.

First, though, you'll want to know that the GS5 runs Android 4.4 KitKat and has all the same functions as Android's OS. It also carries over Galaxy S4 elements like the expandable quick access settings in the notification tray.

What is different is mostly subtle, like a Google services folder loaded onto the home screen of the demo unit I saw, and new icons in the notifications panel, including new quick access buttons for Quick Connect and S Finder. Likewise, the homepage overview you see when pinching in on a home screen now appears as panels, not a grid.

You still swipe right in the app tray for your list of programs and widgets. Any rumors of Samsung cutting back on its own apps have been greatly exaggerated, at least in this phone.

Samsung Hub looks like it's changed names to Samsung apps, as has WatchOn to SmartRemote; my demo unit still has S Health, S Voice, S Planner, S Note, and the Knox security app.

One area was drastically altered: the Settings Menu. Instead of settings broken out into four tabs, you see a vertically scrolling menu of round icons that float over a black backdrop, organized by collapsable sub-categories. It's the boldest new design, but I find the infinitely scrolling list a lot more space-consuming and visually confusing than the GS4's tidy tabs.

Another new area is a Kid's Mode, which creates a sandbox for tykes to play with approved apps while keeping the rest of the phone's contents out of bounds.

Core components
Samsung has blessed its GS5 with top-of-the-line specs befitting a flagship device. There's the 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 chipset for a start, a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera (up from 13 megapixels), and a 2-megapixel sensor on the front.

A 2,800mAh battery may not be the largest in all of smartphonedom, but it's a little larger than the Galaxy S4's 2,600mAh ticker. Then again, the new phone is a bit bigger, too. Samsung says that it's Ultra Power Saving Mode will double battery life when you're running low. It also promises 21 hours of talk time and over 16 days of standby time on a single charge.

Samsung's Galaxy S5 looks a lot like the Galaxy S4. The real changes are inside.

As in past years, there are 16GB and 32GB storage options, with an SD card that supports up to 128GB. Other incidentals include 2GB RAM, NFC, Wi-Fi, USB 3, Bluetooth 4.0 low-energy, and support for the fifth-generation Wi-Fi 802.11ac standard for faster Wi-Fi delivery.

In fact, Samsung says that its Galaxy S5 will combine Wi-Fi and LTE to download items even faster, theoretically up to 600-650Mbps (they're calling this marvel Download Booster).

Fingerprint and heart rate scanners
Following in the footsteps of Apple, HTC, and Motorola (the wayyy distant footsteps), the Samsung Galaxy S5 has its own fingerprint scanner for unlocking privileges and mobile payments.

The scanner integrates into the screen above the home button, so that you swipe your finger down half over the bottom portion of the display and home button. You can add profiles for three fingerprints, and you get a backup password in case the identification fails. The fingerprint reader scans your finger eight times when before up your profile.

I locked and unlocked the phone at least a dozen times. It worked well most of the time, but didn't read my finger in every case. You do need to keep your finger centered on the screen, which would make thumb swiping more of a challenge.

I didn't see it set up on a phone, but this partnership with PayPal means that Galaxy S5 owners will be able to authenticate transactions with the brief press of a finger after signing onto PayPal's program.

Fitness fiends get a friend in the heart rate monitor that's part and parcel with the camera flash. You hold your finger over it to take your pulse; the area glowing red when activated when you launch it from the S Health 3.0 app. As a reminder, S Health also gives you a pedometer, fitness coach, and exercise tracker.

You wouldn't know it, but there's a heart rate monitor built into that camera flash.

Camera and video
Samsung's cameras are typically very good, especially outdoor shots. What hasn't typically been so great is low light. Samsung didn't address that in the briefing we got here at MWC, but the company did tout a whole mess of new fun performance boosts and software trinkets.

The one I care about most is the lickety-split autofocus, just 0.3 second, which Samsung cites as being three times faster than autofocus on the Galaxy S4. This is due to the addition of what Samsung calls Phase Detection autofocus, a feature usually found in DSLR cameras making its first appearance in a smartphone. That means you'll have a higher success rate capturing the moment with squirmy dogs and kids.

A new on-screen control comes to the camera app, and it's a pretty good one. Tap it and you're turning on real-time HDR, so you can preview the results before committing. It works for stills, video, and even burst mode pictures, thanks to an extra chip within. Samsung also notes that the GS5 uses a more sophisticated HDR technology that makes images look even better.

Selective focus is a post-editing trick that Samsung gives you, and on that you may find familiar if you've seen the Lytro and the Nokia Lumia 1020. With it, you'll set the area of focus after you take a photo, say for a shallow or long depth of field. There's also a new tool called Virtual Tour, which cobbles together a 360-degree view. It isn't clear yet how this might differ from Google's Photo Sphere.

It looks like Samsung took a hint from Windows Phone OS with this last highlight, the ability to download other modes to and through the native camera app.

Check out those dimples...on the Galaxy S5's back panel.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 EYE SCANNER

Samsung smartphones are renowned for their extra software features, with Smart Stay and Smart Pause turning off the screen and pausing videos respectively when the front-facing webcam detects you looking away. The company may go a step further, with the Galaxy S5 adding eye scanning security if a new patent filing proves accurate.

A detailed analysis by PatentBolt reveals how an upcoming Samsung smartphone could use a retina scanner, much in the same way as current iris scanners work now. Crucially, the patent explains that this design would be cheaper to implement than existing iris scanners, which makes us think this is one rumour worth keeping an eye on.

We're beginning to see more smartphones put an emphasis on security, with Apple's iPhone 5s using TouchID fingerprint sensors and the HTC One Max following suit. Samsung doesn't like to be left behind, so we're betting that there's a good chance some form of extra security will make its way to the Galaxy S5.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 PRICE

It's pretty clear that the Galaxy S5 is going to cost the same as the Samsung Galaxy S4, so expect to pay around £600 SIM-free. If there's a whole bunch of extra tech in the handset we could see the price go up, but as Apple stringently keeps the same pricing structure, we can't see Samsung wanting to be seen as the expensive manufacturer.

We'll keep you posted with what else we learn about the Galaxy S5.

Nokia announces its first Android phones the X and X+

Nokia is officially launching its very first Android devices, known as the X and the X+, on stage at its annual Mobile World Congress press conference. We were all taken aback by the second (and third) device (since only one leaked), so it's incredible to see Nokia make such a huge foray into enemy territory. The X will have a 4-inch, 840 x 480 IPS screen, 512MB RAM, 4GB of storage expandable storage via microSD slot and 3-megapixel camera, while the X+ sports the same specs but more RAM (768 MB) and an included 4GB microSD card. You won't be getting Google's apps or Play store, however as both handsets will be based on the forked AOSP Android OS. Nokia says that'll have the advantages of the Android ecosystem, but with a "differentiated experience." So far, Here Maps, MixRadio, Skype and Outlook are being featured on the Nokia Store. You can access the Nokia and third party stores using the devices, but not Google Play, obviously. We've heard SwiftKey will be available on the Nokia X range (and for free, too), as will BBM, which is also coming to Windows Phone sometime "this summer."

The new devices are featuring a ported version of FastLane for Asha devices as a sort of skin, to give a similar experience as its other budget handsets. When you swipe across it, it'll bring up a sort of notification bar showing recently used apps, missed calls and texts and other activities. During the demo, Elop showed both the Nokia Store also Yandex, where he pulled down Aero Express, a Russian-flavored app. The X will be available immediately in growth markets (ie, not the US) and run 89 euros. The X+, meanwhile, will run 99 euros but won't arrive until sometime in Q2 this year.

Lower House in India Passes Bill to Create a 29th State

NEW DELHI — Few questions in Indian politics have generated as much raw emotion, pro and con, as the proposed creation of Telangana, a 29th state, out of an inland slice of south India largely covered with cornfields and rice paddies.

Passion over the issue has driven some young people to suicide, inspired hunger strikes and, just last week, prompted a member of India’s Parliament opposed to Telangana to unload pepper spray on fellow lawmakers.

After more than 40 years of dispute, a bill on Telangana finally reached the lower house on Tuesday afternoon and was passed unanimously. Critics said the burst of progress was driven by major political parties, hoping to consolidate regional support before general elections in May.

More than a dozen lawmakers, all opposed to the new state, were excluded from the vote for disciplinary reasons after the pepper spray incident.

The vote set off delirious celebrations and protests. Jayaprakash Narayan, a legislator from Andhra Pradesh State, which would be divided to create Telangana, said the process had created deep divisions that would take years to heal.

CHINA

PAKISTAN

NEPAL

New Delhi

INDIA

TELANGANA

ANDHRA PRADESH

400 MILES

“I am sure that in the years to come in political science faculties, people will study how terribly this was bungled,” Mr. Narayan said in a telephone interview from Hyderabad. “You cannot create, in a large, federalist country with primordial loyalties, a group of winners and a much larger group of losers.”

When India gained independence in 1947, giant states were created along linguistic lines. As the country’s population ballooned, so did identity-based movements based on religion, caste, region and ethnicity. Three new states were created in 2000, bringing the total to 28 states and seven territories, and the governing party, Indian National Congress, promised to create a commission to review existing borders, though it never materialized.

The Telangana initiative made it clear how divisive such movements are. While residents of the inland part of Andhra Pradesh desperately want statehood, the state’s remaining population opposes it with equal passion. One reason is that both groups want the revenue from the state’s booming capital city, Hyderabad, a major technology hub and host to multinationals like Dell and Motorola.

If the bill is passed by the upper house, Hyderabad will remain the capital of both states for 10 years.

Congress will most likely benefit from the gratitude of politicians who favored the new state, and critics described the bill’s sudden passage as a cynical bid for votes. But that was of little concern for supporters, who danced in the streets of Hyderabad, surrounded by the pink banners of the main pro-statehood party.

Bulli Konda Ramulu, 45, had stripped down to a loincloth, slogans in pink scrawled across his body.

“Our first step to a golden future has been taken,” he shouted, trying to make himself heard above beating drums. He heaped praise on K. Chandrasekhar Rao, a politician made famous by his 16-day hunger strike in favor of Telangana. “K.C.R. is our god, Sonia Gandhi is our goddess,” he said, referring to the president of Congress. “I worship them.”

Manmohan Reddy, 24, said the real celebrations would begin on Wednesday, when Congress’s leaders returned to their home districts. “Today, we are just happy roaming on the road, shouting slogans,” he said. “We are happy. We are free. At last.”

Amid the happy crowds were people from Seemandhra, the coastal region where most have opposed the new state’s creation. As they made their way home from work, some looked shellshocked. “In less than 25 minutes, Parliament, without a debate, passed a law to divide our state,” Rama Rao, 36, said. “We have fears. We are shocked.”

Moments before the vote, as the authorities braced for unrest, the live television feed from Parliament went dead, further fueling complaints that the process had not been transparent or democratic. Officials said the blackout had been caused by technical problems.

Leaders from Seemandhra declared a statewide strike beginning Wednesday morning, and pointed to the television blackout as evidence that the vote had been deeply flawed.

“Today, democracy has come to a standstill,” said Dinesh Trivedi, a member of Parliament who opposed the creation of a new state. “The spirit of democracy has been killed.”

Facebook buys WhatsApp: CEO Mark Zuckerberg explains why on facebook

NEW DELHI: Facebook, on Thursday, agreed to buy mobile messaging service WhatsApp for $19 billion, making it the company's largest acquisition. As per the terms and conditions of the deal, all 55 employees of WhatsApp including its founders will be granted restricted stock worth $3 billion that will vest over four years after the deal closes. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted on his Wall, explaining why he bought WhatsApp. 
The text of the letter is given below: 

I'm excited to announce that we've agreed to acquire WhatsApp and that their entire team will be joining us at Facebook. 

Our mission is to make the world more open and connected. We do this by building services that help people share any type of content with any group of people they want. WhatsApp will help us do this by continuing to develop a service that people around the world love to use every day. 

WhatsApp is a simple, fast and reliable mobile messaging service that is used by over 450 million people on every major mobile platform. More than 1 million people sign up for WhatsApp every day and it is on its way to connecting one billion people. More and more people rely on WhatsApp to communicate with all of their contacts every day. 

WhatsApp will continue to operate independently within Facebook. The product roadmap will remain unchanged and the team is going to stay in Mountain View. Over the next few years, we're going to work hard to help WhatsApp grow and connect the whole world. We also expect that WhatsApp will add to our efforts forInternet.org, our partnership to make basic internet services affordable for everyone. 

WhatsApp will complement our existing chat and messaging services to provide new tools for our community. Facebook Messenger is widely used for chatting with your Facebook friends, and WhatsApp for communicating with all of your contacts and small groups of people. Since WhatsApp and Messenger serve such different and important uses, we will continue investing in both and making them each great products for everyone. 

WhatsApp had every option in the world, so I'm thrilled that they chose to work with us. I'm looking forward to what Facebook and WhatsApp can do together, and to developing great new mobile services that give people even more options for connecting. 

I've also known Jan for a long time, and I know that we both share the vision of making the world more open and connected. I'm particularly happy that Jan has agreed to join the Facebook board and partner with me to shape Facebook's future as well as WhatsApp's. 

Jan and the WhatsApp team have done some amazing work to connect almost half a billion people. I can't wait for them to join Facebook and help us connect the rest of the world.

10 Most Creative Facebook Profile Cover Picture Ideas

Timeline is one of the enormous change in social media giant Facebook. They are updating timeline features day by day. Facebook attracted people with a amazing creativity. Now, you can do a lot of unique things with your timeline profile picture and cover picture. Concentrate on creative side of your brain to make something unforgettable. My friends and other lot of people don't believe that Facebook profile and cover pictures could ever work in combination, but then there are those who are creating killer combination with their mind blowing genius ideas.

You can also make your Facebook profile picture in a keen, creative and humorous that simply compliments your timeline cover photo.

READ:

• Set video as your profile pic on fb

• How to send friend request when blocked on facebook

The FB profile photo and timeline cover photo are just a single-single image, but outstanding creativity when combined perfectly.

Still don't trust me?, let’s take a look at creativity of Facebook profile picture with cover photo and then you will understand everything better.

Stay Hungry

Oh My God

Scribble it up!

Here’s what I do

Down with the Sinking ship

Upside down!

Can I See Your Identity?

Acrylic Paint

Dynasore Facebook Timeline Cover

Playing Football

Fishing

So, what do you think of these Top 10 Facebook profile and timeline cover ideas? Give your thoughts and comments below. Also please share this post with your friends also. Stay Blessed :)

Camera Buying Guide For Newbie Photographers .

When one has to choose a right camera among bevy of choices, bare minimum of knowledge should be in mix with an informed, educated decision. This support is sought-after when anyone from us can differentiate between a good pic taken and a bad one. So, the immediate and most important things become so vital to be known as we go shopping for a camera. Maintaining our custom, we are here to share our two-cents in the form of a clear and one-for-all camera buying guide. 

So, let us start with those factors/drivers which make camera-shopping such an intriguing mission? 

This question finds destination in the following: 

• ISO
• Aperture
• Shutter Speed 

Collectively, above-mentioned three are known as the Exposure Triangle, because they control how much light you’re exposing the camera to (aperture), how sensitive the camera is to that light (ISO), and how long your exposure lasts (shutter speed).

Taking a cue from this, we all see things as light fall onto them and light plays THE affective role in photography. So, all cameras can create or capture an image but to make that picture perfect, one must know the factors that influence how an image is created. 

Explaining the Exposure Triangle: 

1. Aperture:

If you look at an old, manual lens, you can see the opening where light comes through. When you adjust your aperture settings, you’ll see that opening get bigger and smaller.

• The larger the opening, or wider the aperture, the more light you let in with each exposure. (Smaller Number)

• The smaller the opening, or narrower the aperture, the less light you let in. (Greater Number) 

2. Shutter Speed:

When you press the shutter button on your camera and take a picture, the aperture blades take a specific amount of time to close. This amount of time is known as your shutter speed.

When you increase your shutter speed—the length of time where the sensor is exposed to light—two important things happen. 

1. The sensor is exposed to more light because it’s been given more time. This is useful in low light situations.

2. The sensor is subject to more motion which causes motion blur. 

Some Classic Examples of Playing with the shutter Speed:

Those white streaks of lines are stars moving. This is captured by slowing the shutter speed to 25 minutes – and it’s only possible in DSLR! 

You can see every splash of water crystal clear – this high speed photography, shot at 1/200 second at 7 frames per second. Cameras usually indicate their fastest shutter speeds in terms of hundredths of even thousandths of a second.

3. ISO:

The faster the film speed, the more sensitive it is to light. This still applies in its entirety to digital photography, but is referred to as ISO rating instead. For daylight photography we use low ISO usually 100 or 200.  

High ISO is particularly useful for picking up more detail in a night/dark photography without reducing the shutter speed or widening the aperture more than you want to, but it comes at the cost of quality. The higher you increase your ISO, the more noise you get. 

All camera brands boast the same set of features; don’t always go for the expensive ones, but as per your requirement. Other important and key features to look for are – 

1) Megapixels –

It determines the resolution of the image. As we all think, the higher the number of megapixels (MP), the better the image quality right? NO! A higher megapixel sensor is great, but the final image quality depends a lot on the sensor size. Most DSLR sensors are about 24×16 mm (APS-C size). For them, as resolution, increases, noise increases too. With the current technology, 18 MP is the right balance. A 12 MP sensor can give you a 12″x16″ (approx. A3 size) picture at the highest detail. This is more than enough for day to day use! 

2) Sensor and its sizes – 

Cameras with larger sensors and better lenses normally take better shots, regardless of megapixel count. Bigger sensors normally create better images, as do higher-quality lenses; this is why DSLRs take such stunning photos. If you can’t get any hands-on time with a camera before deciding whether to buy it, make sure to check the specs to see its sensor size, and compare it with any other camera you are considering purchasing. 

Typical terms you’ll run into when examining camera sensor types are CCD (charged coupled device) and CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor). When considering sensor size, you’ll confront terms like four-thirds and micro four-thirds, APS-C, full-frame, etc. Here are some of the different sizes for sensors:

• Full Frame Sensor (or 35 mm film size) – They are pretty expensive but have their advantage over capturing more details and giving more depth to pictures. Mostly used by professionals for commercial works
• APS-C – Almost all of the starting models in DSLRs have APS-C size sensor, They are smaller in size when compared to full frame, therefore capturing lesser details but there is no compromise in quality. They give an amateur’s advantage of crop factor – as in Canon (1.6x) & Nikon (1.5x) – which means lens focal length gets boosted by that crop factor when using a zoom lens.
• Four Thirds System – All the digital Cameras have this sensor size but the difference can be seen in the quality as compared to normal compact cameras. 

Note that sensor size is important, since a higher megapixel camera needs a bigger sensor to deliver up to the mark results. However, for our daily shots/small prints, an APS-C size sensor is a good choice. 

See also-15 tips for starting and maintaining a successful photography business

3) Lenses – 

If you’re buying your first DSLR, you’re in an enviable position. You have a wider choice as you’re not stuck to a single brand, so can pick and choose the perfect package for your needs. All manufacturers offer a choice of body-only or body and lens kits, the latter being by far the best choice for beginners. 

These kits bundle relatively inexpensive, mid-range lenses with the choice of fair-to-good zoom, depending on how much you want to spend. When looking at the focal length, a 50 mm focal length lens is normal for a full frame camera. Less than 50 mm is on the wider side and above 50 mm is a zoom lens. 

The different types of lens based on their focal length are as follows: 

• Ultra Wide Angle (less than 18 mm) is good for very large scenes where lens distortion adds to rather than detracts from the appeal.
• Wide-angle (around 18 mm to 30 mm) is good for group shots, landscapes, and street photography.
• Normal (about 30 mm to 70 mm) is good for portraits and snapshots.
• Telephoto (about 70 mm to 300 mm) is good for portraits and sports.
• Super telephoto (greater than 300 mm) is good for sports and wildlife shots. It usually consists of an 18-55 mm lens, which gives a respectable wide angle at the 18 mm end, and a moderate zoom at 55 mm. More ambitious users should look towards an 18-135 mm lens, which pins the wide angle but offers a significantly improved zoom although you’ll pay slightly more for the privilege. One can also look at third party lenses which are relatively cheaper and offer decent image quality (Tamron and Sigma, for example). 

4) High Definition Video Quality – 

Many DLSRs now offer Full HD video resolution (1080P) & HD (720P). And because you can take advantage of a variety of lenses, including fish-eye lenses, you can achieve interesting video effects with an SLR. Remember that video requires a lot of storage space, so plan accordingly.

Now a day’s a lot of movies are being shot on DSLRs only. 

5) Size, Weight and Durability -

As mentioned above, digital SLRs come in a variety of shapes and sizes from the ultra-compact entry-level models to the tank-like professional models. If you’re likely to do a lot of shooting in damp, humid or dusty conditions you’ll need to look for a DSLR with some kind of weather-proof sealing and a solid magnesium alloy chassis. 

Obviously this kind of durability doesn’t come cheap, though there are plenty of mid-range models that offer some level of protection from the elements. If you travel a lot, and don’t want to carry any extra weight, you can opt for a plastic body camera since they are smaller in size and lighter than the weather proof models. 

6) Additional Perks - 

You may look for more inbuilt features offered in many starting range DSLRs. These include:

• HDR Mode – For High Dynamic Range pictures
• Colour Selection – Lets you select one colour and leaves the rest of the photo in black & white
• Miniature Mode – Everything in the image appears as a miniature toy model.
• Preset Modes – Companies take average settings from every scene for different purposes and present them in different ways. Different kinds of presets include Portrait, Landscape, Night Portrait, Macro, Night Vision, etc. 

Let Us Talk About the Regular Cameras 

Though starting out slow, with inferior quality to regular SLR cameras, DSLR cameras are now top of the line. They offer faster performance, more control over settings, interchangeable lenses and better image quality than most top-of-the-line point-and-shoot cameras. Most importantly, they give you the ability to play with the image, and get creative with the settings and overall look of the final image. 

Many DSLRs now feature preset shooting modes, friendlier interfaces, helpful guide modes, and more compact designs. A good number are also being featured as tough cameras that can weather difficult conditions and be used underwater. 

A good number of DSLR cameras are available for well under Rs 30,000-35,000, but can go up in cost to as much as 2 lakhs. Either way, a DSLR is a considerable investment. How do you choose the right one? We’ve got some tips on buying a DSLR, along with certain things you need to know before buying. We also outline some of the best DSLR cameras on the market, depending on your budget range. 
Freeze Dried Food

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