Step aside Mary Lou Retton, there’s a new pint-sized powerhouse loose in the US. Meet the $300 F50fd from FujiFilm which stuffs that ridiculous 12 megapixel, 1/1.6-inch CCD into this FinePix’s slim chassis with 3x optical zoom and 2.7-inch LCD in tow. The cam sports a dual-shot mode (one with and one without flash taken in rapid succession), xD/SD/SDHC expansion, and FujiFilm’s v2.0 Face Detection tech, a mechanically stabilized CCD sensor and the ability to shoot at ISO 1600 at full resolution. It will also be one of the first domestic shooters to support IrSimpleShot (IrSS) high speed data transfer when it enters the US market in September. And here you thought infrared was dead you silly, silly boy.

Gallery: FujiFilm’s FinePix F50fd 12 megapixel compact powerhouse with IrSimple

    

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Sony’s got a new camcorder for those that prefer to keep things hard drive-based, with its new HDR-SR5C model upping the on-board storage capacity to a mighty 100GB. Apart from that notable spec, the cam will give you a 10x optical zoom, a 2.1 megapixel “ClearVid” CMOS sensor, a Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T lens, a 2.7-inch widescreen LCD and, of course, the requisite Memory Stick Duo slot (for capturing still images). You’ll also get Sony’s trademark SteadyShot picture stabilization system, 5.1channel Dolby Digital audio recording, and a couple of nifty features like smooth slow video recording for those looking to analyze their golf swing or re-enact their favorite experiment from MythBusters. While Sony will gladly take your order now, to the tune of $1,300, you’ll have to wait until July 9th or so for the camera to actually ship.

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Oh boy, lookie lookie. Panasonic just announced their new Lumix FX top-ender, the DMC-FX100. Packing a 1/1.72-inch, 12.2 megapixel CCD, this compact shooter manages to squeeze in a 28mm wide-angle Leica DC lens with 3.6x optical zoom. The cam features VE III processing along with Panny’s Mega Optical Image Stabilizer and Intelligent ISO control (up to a 6400 sensitivity) to reduce blurring. Shutter release is measured at 0.009 seconds while bursting 8 shots per second at full resolution. It even records WVGA (848 x 480) video at 30fps or 1280 x 720 at 15fps direct to SDHC/SD cards. Nice, should be a winner by the time the reviews roll around.

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Pfff, 10 megapixels is for sissies. Casio, like Panasonic earlier today, just pumped out their own 12.1 megapixel shooter, the Exilim Zoom EX-Z1200. A 1/1.7-inch CCD and 3x zoom lens will be responsible for collecting the photons while the Exilim Engine 2.0 processing attempts to make sense of it all. Casio’s flagship compact also delivers CCD-shift image stabilization and range of blur-reduction technologies bent on making the most of that ISO 1600 sensivity — if reviews of its EX-Z1000 cuz are anything to go by then that’s probably not saying much. Face detection and motion analysis technologies enable the camera to lock focus onto a subject’s face and then track it as the person moves. Rounding things out are a decent 2.8-inch wide LCD, SDHC card support, a lazy 3 shot per second burst mode, and H.264 video recordings at a maximum 848 x 480 resolution and just 20fps. No price listed, but it had better slide in for less than the superior spec’d DMC-FX100 if they hope to compete.

[Via Digital Photography Review]
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Granted, Sony and Panasonic got into the AVCHD game quite some time ago, but you won’t catch us griping about more competition. The relatively small HR10 sports a CMOS sensor, Digic DVII processor, optical image stabilization, a 2.7-inch LCD monitor, HDMI / component outputs, USB 2.0, and a miniSD slot for saving 3.1-megapixel stills. Additionally, the unit touts Full HD capability, a 10x optical zoom lens, and instant AF, and users can record directly to three-inch DVD-R / DVD-RW discs in a variety of bitrates. Notably, the DVD camcorder won’t come bundled with any sort of video editing software, but it will be hitting store shelves for those still interested this August for $1,199.

[Via CamcorderInfo]
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We know it’s late and you should really be asleep if you’re reading this right now, but just in case you were waiting to see if Sunday night / Monday morning had any product launches crop up, here’s a few: Canon’s new PowerShots, the SD850 / SD950 IS and S5 IS. Sounds like the SD850 / SD950 are the different badges it’ll get in the US and overseas, but at the end of the day you’ve got an 8 megapixel camera with a 4x optical zoom, image stabilization, 1600 ISO sensor, DIGIC III processor, SDHC support, and 2.5-inch display. The PowerShot S5, successor to last year’s PowerShot S3, also features an 8 megapixel image stabilized 1600 ISO sensor and 2.5-inch display, but naturally has a 12x optical zoom and hotshoe. They should retail for $400 and $500, but we don’t have anything official on that or a release date.

Read – PowerShot S5
Read – SD850 / SD950
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Ricoh just announced this, the Caplio GX100 followup to their GX8. The new shooter neatly bridges the DSLR and compact shooter set by offering a 10 megapixel, 1/1.75-inch CCD sensor coupled to a 24 to 72-mm wide (3x) zoom lens with optional 19-mm conversion lens to get even wider. The Smooth Imaging Engine II takes care of the image processing while CCD-shift-type vibration correction helps keep the blurring to a minimum. Around back you’ll find a 2.5-inch LCD with 170-degree viewing angle. Otherwise, you can opt for a hot-shoe attachable electronic viewfinder which, besides being useful on a sunny day, provides 100% image coverage with synchronized focal length and no parallax error. It even supports those new(ish) SDHC cards and AAA batteries for those times you find the rechargeable flat. All this in a highly compact, 25-mm thin chassis with RAW support. When and for how much are the critical questions we’re all asking.

Gallery: Ricoh’s Caplio GX100: not a DSLR, not a point-and-shoot — just hot

    

[Via LetsGoDigital]

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