Sony Alpha Digital SLR Cameras

Your own personal Codex: Oldest bible digitized for free access

Scattered across continents, the 1,600-year-old Codex Sinaiticus bible has been fully reunited in a digital version online today. Users can navigate through the text via chapter and verse, see a digital scan of each page and read English, German, Greek and Russian versions.

“If you would have liked to see it before, you would have had to travel to four countries in two continents,” British Library project curator, Juan Garces, said in an Associated Press report. “If you want to see the manuscript right now all you have to do is go online and experience it for yourself.” He noted that the overwhelming digital demand has already crashed the Web site.

The oldest known bible may hold some surprises for those familiar with today’s versions. About half of the Old Testament and Apocrypha are absent, and the New Testament books are in a different order (putting, for example, “Acts of the Apostles” between “the Pastoral” and “Catholic Epistles”). It also includes two additional early Christian writings, allegedly by Hermas (a second-century Roman) and the apostle Barnabas—as well as a smattering of corrections inserted throughout the centuries after its creation.

“There are certainly theological questions linked to this,” Garces told CNN. “Everybody should be encouraged to investigate for themselves.”

The ancient tome was discovered by a German scholar in the 19th century at the Monastery of St. Catherine in Egypt’s Sinai desert. The 400-plus-page volume was transcribed in Greek on animal-skin parchment.

The collaboration, made possible by the institutes that house the document’s pieces—the British Library, the National Library of Russia, Leipzig University Library and St. Catherine’s Monastery—is being celebrated with a conference at the British Library today and tomorrow. 

Image of text from a version of the Codex Sinaiticus’s Esther 1:20-21 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (Source)

Nikon’s D5000 DSLR Seeks Niche

 

With its newly released D5000, Nikon hopes it   has created a digital SLR camera that will  appeal to photographers of varying skill levels.

For inexperienced photographers looking to move from a point and shoot model to a digital SLR, Nikon has included several easy-to-use features and controls, including 19 scene modes. For more experienced photographers already using a digital SLR, Nikon has included new technologies and performance levels with the D5000, providing the opportunity for an upgrade. For example, the D5000 can made HD video clips at up to 24 frames per second.

The D5000 offers 12.3 megapixels of resolution. With its rotating LCD, you can shoot some odd-angle photos. Finally, with in-camera editing features, photographers can make adjustments to their photos on the fly. Nikon will offer the D5000 with a camera body only for $730 or with a starter lens for $850. (By Kyle Schurman, About.com Guide to Digital Cameras)

Nikon Introduces SLR D5000

 

The Nikon D5000 features a 12.3-megapixels image sensor  with DX CMOS format and a 2.7-inch adjustable-angle screen (vari-angle monitor). It can take photos continually at a speed of 4 frames per second  and record High Definition (HD) movies with a resolution of  1280 x 720  at a speed of 24 frames per second. The camera has a HDMI connector to support a direct HDTV connectivity.

The vari-angle monitor can be used when it is attached to the back of the camera in a safe way but the user also can turn it freely, rotate it or move it up and down. The camera also offers “Subjective Tracking” autofocus which locks on to a moving subject as well as “Face Priority” autofocus that can detect up to five faces in a scene in order to focus the closest subject.

The camera also supports 19 automatic Scene Modes that will adjust the camera settings in order to capture sport pictures, portraits, candlelight photos, and more. Also, the camera has some editing functions that include a Soft Filter effect, Perspective Control (that can fix some distortions in perspective when taking architecture photos), Color Outline (that creates monochrome outlines of objects in images) and other capabilities.

A dust reduction system is included with the camera. This system cleans the sensor and removes the dust from there directly. There is a “Quiet Sensor Mode” that keeps the mirror cycling noise to a minimum, which is perfect to use the camera in wedding events and other events that require a careful operation.

To know more specifications about the Nikon D5000, please click here