Digital Camera Functionality Expanding

By Greg Scoblete -- TWICE, 3/13/2006

Orlando, Fla. — As digital cameras saturate the mainstream, vendors are angling for novel ways to attract interest, either by expanding the multimedia capability in Samsung's case, or the photo versatility, in Casio's.

Casio introduced two additional models to its Exilim line of compact models. Both will feature the new eBay best shot mode for photographing items according to the online auction site's specification for image size.

The 6-megapixel EX-Z60 features a 3x optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD, anti-shake DSP (for stills and video), automatic macro and 33 best shot scene modes. A “rapid flash” function captures three consecutive, high-speed flash photos in one second.

The EX-Z60 will ship in April in black and silver for a suggested retail price of $249.99.

The second model, the 8-megapixel EX-Z850, will ship for a suggested $399.99. It features a 3x optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD, 34 best shot scene modes, an anti-shake DSP and manual exposure controls. In addition to Rapid Flash, the camera offers a soft flash mode for shooting properly exposed close-ups and a power flash mode that the company says illuminates subjects up to 39 feet away.

The Z850 offers a 440-shot battery and MPEG-4 movie recording with a built-in LED video light.

Samsung announced the 6-megapixel Digimax i6 capable of playing movies on its 2.5-inch display or MP3 files through included headphones.

The i6 will be bundled with Digimax Converter software which converts MPEG, AVI, MOV, WMV and ASF files for viewing on the i6 in addition to converting MP3 and WAV audio files for playback.

The camera features include a 3x optical SHD lens, 11 scene modes, built-in editing, automatic macro, electronic shake reduction, 45MB of internal memory, VGA/30 fps MPEG-4, video recording with movie editing capabilities.

The Samsung Digimax i6 will ship in March for a suggested $299.99.