A new class of digital cameras offering the closest Digital Slow Lense Reflex (DSLR) features are threatening to overthrow the DSLR camera.
Sony offered that choice with last week's launch of the NEX-F3, the Japanese brand's new lense detachable digital camera series that seems to be pushing the DSLR's feature boundaries to fit the  smaller, handier scale.
It is not a DSLR makeover, but this premium 16.1 megapixel digital camera might as well stand as one. It is cleverly designed with a 180-degree tiltable LCD screen for easy self-portraits, a choice that includes this detachable telephoto lense kit that sells below the P30,000, Sony's DSLR price point.
The NEX-F3's built is, typically, the size of the Samsung Nexus S smartphone. But the camera runs on the new (space-saving) mirrorless DSLR technology, which Sony claims is what makes this camera shoot faster and produce clearer digital images. It has already elicited mixed reviews worldwide from traditional photographers, who raised the technology's tendency to drain camera battery, and from a modernist, who claims to get better digital photo output with the NEX-F3.
Canon, which released last week the Rebel 650D, the first touchscreen DSLR offering from Canon after last year's less than stellar Canon 600D DSLR, launched the new Powershot D20, another waterproof digital camera series Canon fitted with military approved specifications. The heavy duty compact digital camera, designed to withstand tough underwater and air current, is tailored for people who love to capture the outdoors as it goes by. It is a handsome point-and-shoot gadget that can still shoot stunning DSLR (raw) images in rough weathers.
Sony's NEX-F3 delivers the same, but this integration comes with interchangeable photo lenses, which is perfect when capturing specific moods, lighting or landscapes that may be impossible scaling with a tourist pocket camera. The flawless output of the NEX-F3, thanks to Sony's stunning 16.1 megapixel exmor aps HD CMOS sensor that allows it to capture more lights for flawless, low noise stills and detailed HD videos, lets the user create beautiful defocus effects that would make Andy Warhol drool with envy.
These camera specifications are practical, but what really matters with either Canon's Powershot D20 or Sony's NEX-F3 is the capacity to engage first-time users to learn and then appreciate beauty of photography.


Balikbayan  perspective
What I See, the travel show told from the perspective of this impressionable Filipino balikbayan named Paco, a professional photographer who, after years of living abroad, felt a sudden need to connect with the country he remembers as a child, is on Philippine cable this July.  Featuring original Filipino music from indie bands such as Popular Days, Hidden Nikki, Not Another Boy Band, The Charmes, Encounters With A Yeti, Musical O, Sleepwalk Circus, Radioactive Sago Project and the popular Up Dharma Down, What I See, which airs a new episode every Sunday, 7 p.m., on Talktv, offers insightful perspectives and breathtaking images in the hope that it would inspire and open viewers' eyes to the beauty of the Philippines.


Olympic elimination
The Fiba World Olympic qualifying tournament, which airs on Basketball TV, will feature 12 international Olympic teams (Angola and Nigeria from Fiba Africa; the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela from Fiba Americas; Jordan and South Korea from Fiba Asia; Russia, Macedonia, Lithuania and Greece from Fiba Europe; and New Zealand from Fiba Oceania), which will be divided into four competing groups featuring the game's single round robin eliminations. The top two qualifiers for the group stage will move to a crossover quarterfinals. The winners of the semifinals will be given automatic slots to the Olympics while losers will have to battle it out for the last slot. Catch this unique elimination process before the actual London Olympic games on Philippine sport cable today.