Canon 7D DSLR

Canon 7D DSLR First Hands On: 18 Megapixels, 24FPS Full HD Video

The 7D feels like Canon took the results of a survey they handed out to people about what they wanted in a camera and crammed 'em all into one product targeted at semi-pros. Full HD video with manual exposure in 24, 25 or 30 frames per second, check. More rugged, weatherproof body than 5D, check. Customizable buttons, including a new multifunction button, check. A dedicated button for switching to RAW+JPEG mode. Um, check. Electronic axis level? Also check. It has dual DIGIC IV image processors, the first model outside of the pro 1Ds line with dual image processors for fast burst shooting: 8FPS with 94-shot JPEG bursts (124 with UDMA card) or 15 RAW shots, all at full resolution with 14-bit A/D conversion.

But, it's not full-frame: They've crammed 18 megapixels into an APS-C-sized sensor (like in the Rebel series or 50D, versus full-frame in the 5D) with an ISO range from 100-6400, and a Hi setting of 12,800. Canon says they've shortened the distance between the photodiodes in the sensor, which decreases light falloff, supposedly translating into better high ISO performance.

We got to shoot with a beta pre-production model for a little while in midtown using a couple of Canon's new EF-S lenses—a 15-85mm ($800, coming in Oct.) that's replacing the old 17-85mm, and a 100mm macro lens ($1050, out in Sept.)—so you can see some of the low-light results, along with other samples, below. (Again, Canon would like us to reiterate that the pictures are from a pre-production sample, i.e., not final product.)

Toyota unveils new hybrid-only car model

Toyota Motor Corp. has unveiled a more expensive and bigger hybrid-only model than its hit Prius, underlining the Japanese automaker's ambitions to make green technology more widespread.

The "Sai" sedan is Toyota's second hybrid-only model after the Prius. Toyota offers hybrid versions of other car models.

Sai, which means "talent" and "color," will be sold only in Japan, starting Dec.7, targeting monthly sales of 3,000 vehicles.

No global sales plans have been decided, the world's biggest automaker said Tuesday.

Hybrids get better mileage than regular gasoline engine cars by switching between an electric motor and a gas engine.

Other automakers are also beefing up their hybrid lineups, including hybrid-only models.

Government incentives, including cash-for-clunkers programs, and tax breaks are sending Prius orders soaring in Japan, with the waiting list for the car growing to several months.

Hybrid sales in Japan have been the one bright spot for Toyota, which has been losing money, battered by the global economic slump.

The Sai gets 23 kilometers per liter, or about 54 miles per gallon, double the mileage of a comparable regular gas-engine model, according to Toyota.

The Prius gets 38 kilometers per liter, which converts to about 90 miles per gallon under Japanese mileage-test conditions. It is promising 51 mpg in the city and 48 mpg on the highway in the U.S.

The Sai comes with a bigger 2.4 liter engine compared to the 1.8-liter Prius, is roomier and has fancier features such as an interior made from plastic that uses plant-derived materials.

It is also more expensive, starting at 3.38 million yen (US$37,500).

The third-generation Prius, which went on sale earlier this year, starts at just over 2 million yen ($22,000) in Japan and about $22,000 in the U.S.

The Sai looks rather sedate compared to the Prius with its more circular styling.

"This model shows our hopes to make hybrids more widespread," Toyota official Takuji Nakamoto told reporters.

The Sai will be sold at all dealer outlets in Japan, totaling some 4,000 nationwide, like the Prius.

Some Toyota models are sold at just some of the showrooms because they are designed to appeal to certain kinds of consumers.

The Sai will be assembled at a Toyota Motor Kyushu plant in southwestern Japan, Toyota said.

The Prius is the world leader in gas-electric hybrid sales, selling more than 1.4 million vehicles since its debut a decade ago

BMW 5 Series - Reviews

BMW 5 Series 5GT 30d SE Auto

This is not the usual new car drive report. Contrary to normal practice, there'll be a lot of talk about the boot and the back seats, because that's the only way for you to judge whether or not BMW really has invented a new kind of car. And if it has, whether it's one actually worth having.

But there's also our usual meat'n'potatoes, stuff about the engines, transmission, handling and ride - which are all borderline brilliant as it happens. Those things matter because while the 5-Series GT is in itself decidedly minority-interest, you're to all intents and purposes at the wheel of next year's 5-Series saloon and Touring.

Right. The boot. If a manufacturer goes to all the trouble of inventing a new kind of car, you'd think it would deploy all available language to explain the thing. Yet bizarrely BMW people refuse to call this a hatchback, even though that's basically what it is. Instead they call it a GT, which is one thing it isn't. A GT in my book is a short-wheelbase plush but lightweight coupe for comfortable high-speed touring. The 5-Series GT, on the other hand, is a five-door with a body and seats of such Heath Robinson complexity that the thing weighs two tonnes. Unsurprisingly, confusion reigns.

The reason BMW skirts around the H-word is that in BMW-world a hatch is a bit blue-collar. Serious German business people drive saloons, apparently. To explain the idea of the 5GT, BMW made a cartoon video in which our suited hero gives some work colleagues a lift to a business lunch meeting in a car that doesn't have a ‘fully separated luggage compartment'. His facial expression indicates it's just dawned on him that his next promotion will be very much in an unfortunate sideways direction.

So although the 5GT does have a hatch, you don't have to use it. Instead you can open a smaller conventional lid inset into the main hatch. There's also a complex rigid parcel shelf and a movable bulkhead between the boot and the back seats. This helps cut off noise from the back tyres and exhaust, and makes the back seats feel like a part of the car rather than a part of the boot. And protects our animated hero against career meltdown.

But that boot-lid is hopelessly tiny. If you want to put much at all in the 5GT, open the whole hatch. Here the problems really kick in. In order to engineer this lid-within-a-lid idea, BMW has ended up with a colossally heavy tailgate that takes huge effort (or a £500 optional pair of slow-winding electric struts) to open and shut. Oh, and the structure of the hatch - and the extra sets of hinges and struts within it - is so bulky that it eats into potential boot space and kyboshes rear vision. The park radar is standard for a very good reason.


But there's more to the 5GT's oddness than its bootlid. The body has been made higher than a 5-Series saloon or estate. I can see the attraction of this idea. The seats are a couple of inches higher (more in the case of the rear ones) which helps visibility and gives a flavour of the command driving position that SUV buyers love. It also improves legroom, while the raised roof does the same for headroom. But unlike an SUV, the floor, engine, suspension and other heavy bits aren't raised at all. So the thing still has the centre of gravity of a car. Which means - hallelujah - it should handle like a car.

To make best use of all this space, the rear seats recline through a comfy arc. If you don't need all the legroom, they also slide a bit, which lets you push the bulkhead forward and get more into the boot. They also fold like a conventional hatchback's, though they don't actually give a flat floor. Normal spec is called SE, but the £2,900 Executive pack means two electrically adjusted and heated individual rear seats instead of a manual three-across split bench.


So there's lots going on inside this car. This gave the exterior designers some issues - especially the height. Despite the use of various tricks to make the 5GT seem longer (reverse-raked front grilles), lower (fastback tail) and wider (big chrome strip across the rear) it looks from every angle like it hasn't just driven to business lunches but partaken in too many of them.

From the driving seat, the view takes a sharp turn for the better. For a start, although the dash architecture differs from the 7-Series', the main controls are shared. That means marvellously clear analogue dials set into graphically satisfying and informative digital backgrounds, and the new-gen iDrive which is a lot more usable than of old. Because you sit high, it's easy to place the car on a narrow road, though at junctions you curse the thick pillars.

The 550i has a twin-turbo V8 (I didn't drive it) and the 535i an all-new 3.0-litre turbo six of 306bhp. It now has one turbo instead of the old 535i's two, and Valvetronic has been added. Nice in theory, but the power delivery is a bit sticky and it doesn't sound as gorgeous as a BMW six ought to. So have the diesel, which is nearly as quiet and still cracks seven seconds for 0-62. All 5GTs have a new eight-speed auto as standard. Its wide ratio spread and clever friction-reduction mean it's more eco-friendly (a superb 173g/km) than a manual would be, they say. The shifts are smooth, and super-quick if you use the manual over-ride. It feels like a twin-clutch. Which is good.

The test cars had optional Dynamic Drive active anti-roll, which allows the car to be remarkably supple on the straights (and I mean remarkably supple, far better than a 7-Series), yet still beautifully resolved in corners. In fact, if you switch to the sport setting, the rear bar stiffens up more than the front one in tight corners to kill understeer. Even so, it never shakes off the feeling, in S-bends, that it's a two-tonne car. By the way, avoid the four-wheel active steering option: better manoeuvrability in car parks in exchange for much worse feel and precision on B-roads is a bad bargain.

The 5GT is 100kg more than a 7-Series. It could lose some of that if it had a simpler tailgate and back seats and it'd be just as useful and roomy. Still, it does show that next year's 5-Series ought to be a real winner.

Honda - the Tokyo Motorshow

For those who weren’t there live at the 2009 Tokyo Motorshow, you can still have a glimpse at what an international motorshow is like. Because of the high costs of travel, alot of us will probably only get to visit the KL motorshow or perhaps the ones up north in Thailand or down south in Singapore (which was really bad last year). Honda has recorded some videos of their HELLO! Zone exhibition launch, including their President’s opening speech.

The HELLO! (Honda Electric mobility Loop) Zone features electricity-based products, including products that supply electricity, vehicles that run on electricity and other electricity-related products.

Basically the HELLO! Zone covered the main stage of the Honda booth, but the rest of the area was filled with other models, like the Honda Freed.

On the overall, the entire motorshow was really downsized this year. There were only Japanese manufacturers and a handful of 3 to 4 overseas brands, but even then they weren’t big players. The organisers had to fill the spaces up with various other displays such as an awards showcase and a gallery of paintings.



It was much more massive two years ago, with the displays covering two different halls. The bikes, buses and trucks were in a separate hall which you had to walk a good distance to reach – and it was quite tiring when you have to lug around all the press kits and your heavy bag. This year, everything is in one hall and just over half a working day was enough to cover everything complete with photos.