Posts Tagged ‘News’
January 5th, 2012 by Allison Gibson Posted in Blog, Cameras, News
Just ahead of the madness that is soon to be CES, FujiFilm has made several new digital camera announcements. Most notable among them is the new 26x optical zoom X-S1. Featuring a 2/3-inch 12-megapixel EXR CMOS sensor, the superzoom camera has a bridge model body (styled after a DSLR) but is more compact and lightweight. As for the optics, the X-S1 boasts a new all glass FUJINON F2.8-5.6 lens and 26x optical zoom (24-624mm). The X-S1 also features a 1.4 million dot electronic viewfinder (EVF) and a 3.-inch titling LCD display with “Monitor Sunlight Mode” for shooting in bright sunlight. It also shoots in RAW, JPEG or RAW and JPEG simultaneously, and features an Auto ISO range of 100-3200 with manual control up to ISO 12800. The Fuji X-S1 will be available at the end of January for $799.95.
Additionally, FujiFilm has unveiled three new speedy S-series compact cameras: FinePix S4200, S4500 and SL300; two new FinePix T-Series ultra-compact long-zoom cameras: FinePix T400 and T350; FinePix HS30EXR and HS25EXR; the all new rugged and durable FinePix XP150, XP100 and XP50 for outdoor shooting; three easy-to-use point-and-shoots: JX580, JX500 and AX550; and three new additions to the high-end, compact long-zoom FinePix F-Series: F770EXR (with GPS), F750EXR and F660EXR.
(via FujiFilm)
January 3rd, 2012 by Allison Gibson Posted in Blog, Cameras, News
Samsung‘s DualView camera lineup has been increasingly gaining in popularity over the past couple of years (see DP’s review of the DualView TL225 here), due in large part to the namesake feature: the dual (front and back) LCD screens. Like its predecessors, the newly announced Samsung DV300F features a 1.5-inch front LCD that allows you to see a live view of what the lens sees, in order to get a perfectly framed self-portrait or couples’ travel shot. What at first seemed like a gimmick for the Facebook era narcissist in us all, the DualView has quickly been embraced as a convenient staple point-and-shoot feature.
Much the same, consumers who are used to the immediacy of sharing the images they capture on smart phones have come to expect the same sharing capabilities from digital cameras. Reacting to that consumer demand, the Samsung DV300F is the first DualView model to offer WiFi connectivity. “The camera’s built-in Wi-Fi connectivity enables users to email their images or upload them to social media sites including Facebook, Picasa, Flickr and YouTube. In addition, images saved onto the camera’s microSD memory card, can be saved to a home PC without wires, by using the Auto PC Backup function. Cloud services, including Samsung’s AllShare Play and Microsoft SkyDrive, allows users to store and share their precious pictures from anywhere,” according to Samsung.
The 16-megapixel CCD sensor Samsung DV300F will be available in March for an estimated $199.
(via Samsung)
December 14th, 2011 by Allison Gibson Posted in Blog, News
Olympus announced today the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 EZ (35mm equivalent 24–100mm) lens, which, as a new addition to the PEN lineup, is the first “fully-compatible interchangeable Micro Four Thirds lens to incorporate an electronic motorized zoom.” The announcement comes at a time of great instability for the manufacturer in the wake of financial scandal. As longtime fans of the brand and its equipment, we’re glad to see the launch of an innovative piece of gear.
The new lens has three zoom speeds, achieved by turning the barrel slowly, quickly, or at an intermediate rate, with each speed producing a different effect. Additionally, you have the option to takeover full manual control. Focusing is possible between 8 and 20 inches for close-up shooting in macro mode (there is a macro button on the side of the lens). The lens also features a smooth and quiet motor, which is a bonus for shooting video, combating camera shake and unwanted zzzzzzzz noises in that background of your footage.
The M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 EZ will be available in mid-January for an estimated $499.99. More from Olympus below.
Read the rest of this entry »
December 6th, 2011 by Allison Gibson Posted in Blog, News
image via Flickr Creative Commons
According to the LA Times today, Kodak—once the kingpin of all things photography: Instamatic cameras! The first digital cameras! Film! Do you remember film?—is losing money at a rate of “more than $70 million a month” and that “Chapter 11 must lurk just around the corner.”
So how does a company that once dominated the field make such a plunging fall from grace? Well, it isn’t all that perplexing: they didn’t adapt in time or in the right ways to the onset of digital. As Michael Hiltzik of the LA Times points out, “Kodak…markets a process technology; and as the chemistry of film has yielded to digital electronics, consumer demand for Kodak’s traditional products has evaporated.”
That isn’t to say that we should completely write off any kind of future for Kodak, but that they confront a different type of obstacle than other declined companies with historical American and global significance. Unlike American car-maker GM, who despite its inefficiency “still manufactures a product with a huge market demand,” Kodak’s former market-dominating expertise has been deemed all but obsolete by digital processing, and yes of course, by the camera phone (which ironically now plagues the digital camera market ).
(via LA Times)
November 22nd, 2011 by Allison Gibson Posted in Blog, News
(images via CEA)
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which hosts the CES mega tech show every year, is also hosting a photo competition. The Best Shots Photo Contest invites shutterbugs to enter photos for the chance to win great prizes and have their images viewed by visitors of the CES show. The grand prize winner, to be announced January 13, 2012, at the 2012 International CES, will receive a Nikon D3100 DSLR camera and a 55-200mm zoom lens.
Read the rest of this entry »
