We’ve been wondering when Panasonic would do something a little more interesting with a Micro Four Thirds sensor than simply pack it into an SLR-style body, and it looks like the new Lumix DMC-GF1 is the first step along that road. First leaked early last month, the spec sheet aligns pretty closely to the similarly sweet-looking Olympus E-P1, although most of the numbers max out a little lower: 12.1 megapixel Live MOS sensor with ISO 3200 sensitivity, 720p 30fps AVCHD Lite or Motion JPEG video (sorry, no mic input), three-inch LCD, and HDMI out. (In terms of size it’s a wash: the GF1 is less wide, but it’s a tick taller, and they’re both about the same thickness, although the GF1 has a built-in flash.) Ready for the bad news? Panny’s going to be selling this thing in two kits come October, one with a 20mm/f1.7 “pancake” lens and the other with a 14-45mm/f3.5-5.6 zoom, and both are priced at $900 — not including the optional viewfinder attachment. Yeah, that’s a lot of scratch, especially since the E-P1 has slightly better specs and lists for $800. We’ll see what street prices look like after a couple months, but for now we’re, oh, let’s say, “waiting to be convinced.”

Update: Well, what do you know? PhotographyBLOG has a nice gallery of sample shots up to give you a solid idea of what this bad boy’s capable of.

From engadget

Four more compact cameras from Casio: EX-Z400, EX-Z270, EX-S12, and “sleek and sturdy” EX-S5. The top end of these lower-end shooters is the Z400 (pictured above) which features a wide-angle 28mm, 4x optical zoom, 3.0-inch LCD, CCD-shift anti-shake, and 550-shot battery. The Z270 drops the LCD down to 2.7-inches while the 12.1 megapixel S12 drops the zoom to 3x. Bringing up the rear is the 10.1 megapixel EX-S5 with YouTube capture mode for those who want (or need, frankly) to keep it simple. Sorry no 30fps burst or super slow mo’ in this lot. Prices will range from $300 for the Z400 on down to $180 for the S5 when these pop for retail in March.

Gallery: Casio outs Exilim EX-Z400, EX-Z270, EX-S12, and EX-S5 shooters

From engadget

Casio knows a thing or two about high-speed image capture as demonstrated over the last year and half. Now they’ve squashed that innovative circuitry and imaging technology into compact cameras offering high-speed 30 shots-per-second, 6 megapixel still image burst rates and high-speed movies at up to 1,000 fps. Amazingly, Casio’s 9.1 megapixel EX-FS10 does this in a 16.3-mm thin compact shooter with a not so amazing 2.5-inch LCD and 3x zoom lacking any kind of optical image or sensor stabilization. The 9.1 megapixel EX-FC100 is larger thanks to a 5x zoom, 2.7-inch LCD and CMOS anti-shake technology — yet it’s still small enough to easily fit in the palm of your hand unlike Casio’s other fast bursting cams. These compacts will (attempt to) automatically select only the best image (no blur, eyes opened, subject smiling) captured in high-speed burst mode or slow things down on the viewer so that you can select the best image yourself. HD movies? Yup, that too in a 720p pixel resolution. Of course you also get that goofy ability to insert moving subjects into static images. The EX-FS10 should hit by March for $350 in blue, gray, red and white while the EX-FC100 will roll out in gray and white for $400.

Gallery: Casio’s EX-FS10 and EX-FC100 compacts burst faster than DSLRs

From engadget

We had a chance to gaze through the wireframe of this 8.1 megapixel Casio W63CA Exilim cellphone back in August courtesy of the FCC’s finest. Now check it in high-gloss, plastic flesh. The latest Japanese super-phone squeezes 480 x 800 pixel into a 3.1-inch OLED display. Let that sink in for a second… the very same 384,000 pixels on a display smaller than the 3.8-inch LCD heralded by the Touch HD. The camera features a wide-angle lens, 9-point auto focus, face detection, anti-shake, and a YouTube video mode that records VGA video at 30fps to microSD. All this in a Japanese-only flip measuring 110 x 50 x 17.4 ~ 22-mm when it launches in early November.

[Via Impress]
more info
from engadget

We’ve always had a soft spot for Canon’s G-series of prosumer compacts, and it looks like the new G10 won’t be any exception — Photography Blog just put the boxy camera through its paces and found that it’s “undoubtedly the best ever” in the line. High marks were particularly given to the new wider-angle 28-140mm lens (which suffers less barrel distortion than the G9), higher-res LCD screen, and the new exposure dial, which allows you to fine-tune exposure settings without a trip to the menus. The new 14.7 megapixel sensor didn’t receive the same praise, however: ISO 400 images were quite noisy, and the 800 and 1600 settings were “virtually unusable.” That’s not exactly news for the G-series, but it’s pretty unfortunate — especially considering that the G10′s $499 pricetag edges into low-end DSLR territory. Still, if you’re looking for a compact with deep manual controls and real optics, it sounds like the G10 is worth a look — hit the read link for the full review.

more info
from engadget

Samsung was content with teasing us all weekend long, but it has finally seen fit to officially reveal its next 8-megapixel handset, the Pixon. Boasting a 3.2-inch touchscreen, 13.8-millimeter thin design and an inbuilt camera with Auto Focus, face detection and geotagging, the handset clearly emphasizes the importance of taking a few photos each and everyday. Sammy has confessed that the currently unpriced mobile will start shipping in around a fortnight for those in France, while most other European / Asian countries will see it shortly. As for North America? Take a wild guess.

[Via PhoneScoop]
more info
from engadget

Sony’s been showing off the full-frame Alpha A900 DSLR since February, and after popping up in ads and in the wild last week, it’s official today, right on cue. Same basic specs you’ve known forever: 24.6 Exmor CMOS sensor, dual BIONZ image processors, ISO 6400 sensitivity, 3.0-inch LCD, 5fps shooting, and SteadyShot INSIDE in-body optical image stabilization. Sony’s also launching a few new Alpha lenses to complement this beast, including a Carl Zeiss 70-400mm f4-5.6 zoom. Early impressions from CNET are that it’s a bit slow to autofocus and didn’t wow with image quality, but dpreview was impressed overall, so we’ll wait for some in-depth reviews to hit before making a final judgment. You’re looking at a $3,000 outlay when this thing goes on sale in October — check out more pics in the gallery.

Read – Sony A900 press release
Read – CNET hands-on
Read – dpreview hands-on

From engadget

Gallery: Sony A900

LG’s cover was blown late last month with the early unveiling of the KC910, but it’s hard to ignore that warm, fuzzy feeling one gets when any outfit doles out the official verbiage as confirmation. The self-proclaimed Viewtysuccessor (formally dubbed the LG-KC910) looks mighty fine on paper, with a 3-inch WQVGA touchscreen, 8-megapixel camera (with Schneider-Kreuznach certified optics and a Xenon flash), geotagging support, Dolby Mobile, video recording, A-GPS, 7.2Mbps HSDPA and integrated WiFi. Regrettably, LG failed to pass along the most pressing morsel of news (read: the price), but at least we know it’ll be available somewhere in the world this October.

[Via MobileBurn]
from engadget
more info

It’s no D90, but Sony has a new compact stillcam for your snapping pleasure, the Cyber-shot T500, and it’s touting an HD movie mode just like any good bandwagon hopper should. The 10.1 megapixel camera offers up a 5x optical zoom, 3.5-inch LCD and Optical SteadyShot, but most of the attention is likely to be lavished on the 1280 x 720 30 fps h.264 movie mode. You can grab 720p stills while you shoot, and you can expect to store about an hour of video on your 4GB Memory Stick… you do have a 4GB Memory Stick, right? The T500 hits this October, no word just yet on price. Oh, and she comes in colors.

More info
from engadget

So, Nikon finally fessed up to its new D90 prosumer DSLR, which means all that’s left for us is to do is to pick through the spec sheets, drool on the product shots and imagine ourselves taking the film industry by storm with that D90-shot indie flick we’re plotting.

INT. SUBURBAN HOME – DAY

BLOGGER sits at his computer typing. He looks inspired, witty, unkempt. The camera’s short depth of field captures the writer in his element.

Oh, right, the tech specs:

• New 12.3 megapixel Nikon DX-format CMOS image sensor with Integrated Dust Reduction System.
• Low-noise from ISO 200 to 3200, ISO 6400 available.
• D-Movie mode records in 320 x 216, 640 x 424 or 1,280 x 720 in AVI format.
• Scene Recognition System based on 420 pixel RGB sensor for improved autofocus, autofocus and auto white balance, in addition to Face Detection.
• Multi-CAM 1000 autofocus with 11 AF points.
• 3-inch, VGA Live View LCD.
• 4.5 fps continuous shooting, 0.15 second startup, 65ms shutter release lag.
• SD / SDHC storage.
• HDMI output
• 5.2 x 4.1 x 3.0-inches.
• 1 pound 6 ounces without battery.
• $1,299 kit price.

Read – Nikon D90
Read – D90′s “D-Movie” samples
Read – D90 tested out by Chase Jarvis
from engadget

First off, the chance of this Japanese super-phone coming to the US or anywhere else outside of Nippon is slim. FCC approval or not, it’s likely only being tested for global roaming. However, as slim is its chances are, they’ve improved dramatically now that Japan’s government is behind a push to promote its twisty, folding phones abroad. This Exilim-branded Casio / Hitachi mashup sports an 8 megapixel camera and with any luck, it’s using that new Omnivision sensor meant to revolutionize cameraphones. As followup to the W53CA, this 3G W63CA flip will no doubt feature the same high-resolution, 800 x 480 pixel swiveling display of its cousin. With autumn nearing, we expect to see the W63A announced any day in a typical shotgun blast of seasonal phones from KDDI.

more info
from engadget

We’ll go ahead and let those other guys battle it out for the “world’s smallest” camcorder title — meanwhile, Sony’s just cranked out the one to really pay attention to. The HDR-TG1 Handycam checks in at just 1.3- x 4.7- x 2.5-inches and weighs ten ounces, all while boasting the ability to capture those oh-so-precious vacation moments and unannounced streaking episodes in 1080p 1080i. Aside from that, it’ll snag stills at 4-megapixels and holds everything on MS Pro Duo / Pro Duo Mark2 cards, while the 2.7-inch touchscreen keeps your eyes glued to the action. Furthermore, you’ll find a 10x Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar optical zoom lens, BIONZ processing engine, 5.1 Dolby Digital audio recording and a bundled 4GB Pro Duo Mark2 card for $900. Get ready — this one’s comin’ at you next month.

Update: Will be called the HD TG3E in Europe.
more info
from engadget

[Via AkihabaraNews]

It’s always worth noting when a reviewer says that a device, “sets a new standard for image quality in a compact camera.” That’s PopPhoto’s conclusion after testing the Sigma DP1 with a DSLR-sized, FOVEON X3 CMOS sensor packing 14 megapixels. The image quality and color accuracy remained “stellar” right up to ISO 800 where other compacts shackled with tiny sensors begin to lose control of the noise. The biggest nits are with the sluggish 9-zone AF system, an unsophisticated flash, lack of image stabilization, and delays between shots. Fix those while whittling-back the $800 street price a bit and PopPhoto believes the DP1 could go mainstream.

[Via Photography Blog]
more info
from engadget

[Via I4U]
from engadget
more info