DualShock Grip and Extended Battery

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The PlayStation Vita launched in Japan one month ago along with tons of games and also some accessories, mostly from Sony themselves. However, in the coming months, consumers will start to see third party companies making their own accessories. One peripheral that will surely catch the attention of long time PlayStation fans is the “Assist Grip” by Datel Japan.

Like its name, the purpose of this accessory is to assist gamers in holding the Vita in their hand. “Assist Grip” is unique because it provides a really close feeling of holding a DualShock controller, the same controller design used by Sony for its PlayStation products since PS One era, almost making the product like our concept DualShock 4. Impress Watch reports that the premise behind the accessory holds true with no major complaints about its constructions. Even though most Vita owners have reported no complaints in holding the device itself, it is still nice to have a peripheral that will enable us to duplicate the feeling of playing a Sony home console. The “Assist Grip” such as Canon BG-E2 Battery Grip, Canon BG-E7 Battery Grip, Canon BG-E10 Battery Grip, Nikon D3000 Battery Grip, Nikon D5000 Battery Grip, Nikon MB-D31 Battery Grip, Nikon MB-D51 Battery Grip, Pentax BP-K7 Battery Grip, Sony VG-B50AM Battery Grip, Sony VG-B30AM Battery Grip, Nikon Battery Grip will retail for ¥1,380, which is around $18, when it releases on January 31.

Another peripheral coming for the Vita is USB Portable Power Set made by Sony. This 2,000 mAh device can charge the Vita on the go via USB. This charger can provide an additional three hours, give or take, of gameplay time. Even though this device is made by Sony, it is not made specifically for Vita only, it also works with any USB-based device such as Vita’s competitor Nintendo 3DS. The USB Portable Power Set will set you back around ¥2,980, which is around $39. Release date is unknown at this point.

Both accessories have not been announced for North America just yet, but hopefully they will as we get closer to the Vita’s launch on February 22nd.

Canon intros new EOS 550D consumer DSLR camera

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Canon has today announced the newest addition to its popular line of consumer DSLRs, the EOS 550D. Its highlights include an 18-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, 1080p HD video recording with full manual control, as well as Canon's new 63-point iCFL metering system first introduced on the semi-professional EOS 7D.

The EOS 550D's sensor is similar, but not exactly the same as the one in the EOS 7D, despite having the same ISO range from 100 to 6,400, expandable to 12,800. What's more, Canon has improved its auto-ISO system, enabling the user to select a maximum ISO to ensure their images are to their satisfaction.

Full HD video recording was first introduced on the EOS 5D Mark II, but has been improved further on the EOS 550D. It records video with full manual control in 1080p full HD at 30, 25 and 24fps, as well as offering 720p at 60 and 50fps. You'll be able to take control of exposure settings, depth of field and degree of motion blur, as well as independent highlight tone priority control (which doesn't change the still image capture settings) while recording video.

Furthermore, Canon has included a Movie Crop function for those situations where you're too far away from the action. This reduces the resolution to 640x480 but, in doing so, it uses the central 640x480 pixel grid to record video to effectively increase magnification by a factor of seven. There's also a built-in 3.5mm stereo microphone jack, allowing you to connect an external microphone, and an HDMI port that allows you to view images from your camera on an HDTV using the TV's remote.

The 550D's body has gone through a number of changes too - the biggest being the new 3.0in Clear View LCD screen. Canon has changed the ratio from 4:3 to 3:2, while leaving the resolution at 1,024k dots - this makes sense, as it allows the user to view 100 per cent captured images without the letterbox. It also means that the interface has had to undergo a number of changes in Live View/Movie mode and playback mode, with the information now overlaid on top.

The buttons have also been tweaked and are now much bigger and more intuitive following user feedback. There's also an additional button on the new (optional) BG-E8 battery grip such as Nikon D5000 Battery Grip, Sony VG-B50AM Battery Grip, Sony Battery Grip, Canon BG-E5 Battery Grip, Canon Battery Grip, Pentax Battery Grip, Pentax BP-K7 Battery Grip
Pentax K10D Battery Grip, Sony VG-B30AM Battery Grip, Canon BG-E10 Battery Grip, Canon BG-E2 Battery Grip, Canon BG-E8 Battery Grip, Canon BG-E7 Battery Grip that allows users to change both shutter speed and aperture without having to reorient the camera.

Canon's new EOS 550D is compatible with all Canon EF and EF-S lenses, as well as the EX-series Speedlite flash units. It'll be available on 24th February, but UK pricing is yet to be confirmed. Typically though, Canon's pricing is a good deal higher than the street price, so we'll wait to hear from some of the retailers before making any kind of judgement on this camera. We're especially excited about its video capabilities though.

Canon Legria HF M406 review

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The M-series is broader than its Panasonic competitor, with a more pronounced hump along the top and a totally flat side beneath the grip like Nikon D5000 Battery Grip, Sony VG-B50AM Battery Grip, Sony Battery Grip, Canon BG-E5 Battery Grip, Canon Battery Grip, Pentax Battery Grip, Pentax BP-K7 Battery Grip
Pentax K10D Battery Grip, Sony VG-B30AM Battery Grip, Canon BG-E10 Battery Grip, Canon BG-E2 Battery Grip, Canon BG-E8 Battery Grip, Canon BG-E7 Battery Grip; we found all this made it more comfortable to hold for long periods. The HDC-SD800's supplied battery protrudes slightly from the rear of the camcorder, and a larger one would stick out far more. The M-series on the other hand has a huge battery recess, which the supplied two hour and 13 minute battery only half fills, so you could add a far larger replacement, lasting nearly seven hours, without it impeding your use of the camcorder.

The lens has a 10x optical zoom range, with a 35mm camera equivalence of 43.6-436mm. It's a decent range, though we prefer the noticeably wider 35-420mm range of the HDC-SD800, which only sacrifices a little at the telephoto end. The M-series use a single 1/3in CMOS with 2.3-megapixels, a very different proposition from its Panasonic competitor from with its 3-chip array of smaller sensors with higher pixel counts. We're yet to see Sony's camcorders for this year.

Test footage showed accurate colours and well-balanced exposures, motion is smoothly captured too. However, it lacked the fine detail and sharp edges that we've become accustomed to on Panasonic's new models. The larger sensor makes it superior in a wide range of conditions to the cheaper Panasonic HDC-SD90, with its single 1/4.1in sensor. There was barely any noise in our low-light test and the frame rate stayed smooth, but that can also be said of the SD800. It seems that the benefits of the sensor in low-light, an advantage born of its relatively low pixel count, then count against it in brighter conditions. Here camcorders can make use of pixels above-and-beyond the two million needed to form a Full HD image, and use them to generate sharper and more detail-packed video. You can see this in the 100% frame grabs below, and in our office plant shots in the gallery.

The M-series camcorders all have optical image stabilisation, unlike the cheaper R-series with its electronic system. In our labs test, using a vibrating table, it did excellently, and there was barely any motion in the final footage, with the same slight shimmer of movement we saw on the HDC-SD800.

At just over £500, the Canon Legria HF M406 is a little cheaper than Panasonic's three-chip HDC-SD800. It has some useful features, such as the accessory shoe, big battery recess and dual-card slots, but unless any of these are essential to you then the SD800 wins out for its superior image quality in good lighting conditions. The M-series is superior in less ideal conditions to the HDC-SD90, but then at over a hundred pounds more, it should be. This leaves the M406 (and its more expensive brethren) stuck between a rock and a hard place; only those who are desperate to add an external mic, but who can't stretch to £680 for Panasonic's HDC-SD900 (review coming soon), should buy an M-series.