New York
— Kodak, Nikon and Sony have introduced a range
of digital cameras with advanced features in time for the holiday
selling season.
From point-and-shoots to aggressively
priced d-SLRs, the following companies
offered new twists to bring shoppers into
stores this fall.
Kodak
unveiled a new ultra-compact
point-and-shoot M590 digicam and the
PlayTouch, which is a next-edition model
in its popular pocket video camera line.
Both cameras include Kodak’s Share
Button technology that helps consumers
tag pictures and videos directly on
the camera for easy uploading to such
sites at Facebook, Kodak Gallery, Flickr,
Orkut and YouTube.
The EasyShare M590 ($200 suggested
retail) digital camera ships this fall and
includes a 5x optical zoom lens, face recognition,
Kodak’s Smart Capture system,
built-in image stabilization, a 2.7-inch
bright LCD, HD video recording and a
MicroSD card slot.
The PlayTouch ($230) pocket video
camera line includes a 3-inch capacitive
touchscreen, FullHD 1080p video
recording, new on-camera editing, image
stabilization and an external microphone
jack.
Nikon
introduced a pair of CoolPix point-and-shoot cameras,
including a second-gen combination Pico camera projector
and a new edition to its entry d-SLR line in the D3100.
The D3100, with FullHD video recording, offers a
14.2-megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor and an enhanced
Guide Mode. It will be available in September as part of a kit
with an AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR image stabilization
lens for a $699 estimated selling price.
New to the CoolPix point-and-shoot line is the S1100pj
($350), which ships in September and is Nikon’s secondgeneration
Pico projector digicam, and the S5100 ($180),
set to ship in October. Both models include HD video recording,
Nikon’s Expeed C2 image processing engine for sharper
images Scene Auto Selector/Easy Auto Mode, and Smart
Portrait System that incorporates a series
of automatic functions, among other
features.
Sony
has unveiled three d-SLRs in its
Alpha line, all of which offer 3D Panorama
Sweep still image capture and 1080i
HD video recording.
The a560, a33 and a55 are the company’s
first d-SLRs to offer video recording.
All include APS HD Exmor CMOS
imagers, newly advanced high-speed Bionz
image processors and will accept the
company’s Alpha-series lenses with Carl
Zeiss optics.
The a560 (shipping in October at a
$650 suggested retail for the body only or
$750 for a kit including an 18-55mm lens)
offers 14.2-megapixel still image resolution
and dual Live View systems, including
Quick AF Live View using a secondary
sensor that does not bypass the
conventional phase-change AF system
during Live View, allowing quick auto focusing
without interruption or noise.
Models a33 (shipping in August at
$650 for the body only and $750 for a
kit with an 18-55mm lens) and the a55
(shipping in September at $750 for the body only or $850 for
a kit with an 18-55mm lens) both incorporate a new stationary
mirror using Translucent Mirror Technology to pass light from
the lens to the image sensor and the AF sensor simultaneously,
significantly increasing the cameras’ continuous shooting
and AF performance, for up to 10 fps with AF in the a55,
and 7 fps in the a33, while enabling a reduced body size and
26 percent reduction in weight in the a55.
