Archive for February 27th, 2006
A Perfect Storm Forms in the Digital Camera Industry
Terry Sullivan – PC Magazine
In an effort to compete with two powerful forces—Canon and Nikon, who have dominated the D-SLR markets—three camera companies have come together to produce cameras and lenses. This “high pressure” formation has produced two new products that attempt to create a powerful climate change in the photo industry.
The first product, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1—a collaboration of Olympus and Panasonic—is Panasonic’s first interchangeable-lens Digital Single Lens Reflex (D-SLR) camera. Based on Olympus’s Evolt E-330, the L1 will feature a full-time Live View function on its LCD screen, which is a common feature on lower-end digital cameras but not on D-SLRs. Like the Evolt E-330, the L1 will also include a new sensor, a 4/3rds-type Live MOS sensor with 7.5 million pixels, which Panasonic says provides the image quality of a CCD and the low energy consumption of a CMOS sensor. The L1 will store images on SD memory cards, which Panasonic also manufactures, and is further evidence of the company trying to add yet another revenue stream into its now rather Byzantine business plan. Indeed, as I recently mentioned in my review of the Panasonic SDR-S100 SD Camcorder, the company claims it will have SD cards as large as 16GB and 32GB capacities by the year 2007.
What really makes this a perfect storm is that Panasonic’s older partnership with Leica has produced a new lens, the Leica D Vario-Elmarit f/2.8-3.5 lens 14-50mm, which will include Panasonic’s MEGA O.I.S optical image stabilization system. It’s the same system found in their superzooms, like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30. This is a fast f/2.8-3.5 zoom lens—most consumer D-SLR zoom lenses are in the f/3.5-5.6. This means, among other things, that you’re much more likely to get better, blur-free shots in low light with this lens, provided the system doesn’t produce too much noise. (Stay tuned for our hands-on First Looks review on this.) And if you throw in the Supersonic Wave Filter dust reduction system from Olympus, you end up with a very feature-rich, D-SLR-and-kit-lens combination.
The Leica D lens will feature an aperture ring, in addition to a focus ring and zoom ring, for direct aperture settings. Many manufacturers have done away with such rings, in order to reduce size and weight. It will be interesting to see the final specs on this lens, especially with an image-stabilization system added to the lens.
Of course, there was no forecast on pricing, although I’m guessing it’ll be around $1,200 with the lens and $1,000 for the camera body only, which is comparable to the Evolt E-330. No word at this time on when the camera or lens will be available.
February 27th, 2006
Samsung Camera launches new models in advance of PMA 2006 show
Network World Fusion
The Photo Marketing Association’s (PMA) 2006 show starts Sunday in Orlando, which means there will be a lot of news on the digital photography and imaging front over the next few days.
One company getting a jump on things is Samsung Camera, which announced several new digital cameras, including the Digimax L60, a 6 megapixel model that includes features such as MPEG-4 video recording capabilities, a 3x optical zoom lens, 5x digital zoom and a 2.4-inch color LCD screen.
The L60 can record video in VGA format (640 by 480 pixels) at 30 frames/sec., Samsung says. A built-in movie stabilization feature can automatically detect and fix shaky movements, and a continuous video recording feature lets a shooter pause and resume video recording at any time and merge the multiple video files into a single file (remember, this is a digital still camera).
The L60 also includes features in-camera such as Color Effect (such as black and white, sepia, or blue, green and red effects), Highlight, Photo Frame, Negative and Composite Shot. The camera includes 11 scene modes, including night shooting, portrait, children, landscape, close-up, Beach & Snow, and text recognition. The text recognition feature lets users shoot documents (books, magazines, etc.), and then extract the text from the image using bundled Digimax Reader text recognition software (just what every super spy needs!).
The L60 will cost $300 and is expected to be available in April 2006, Samsung says. The L60 will include 32MB of internal memory and includes a Secure Digital/MultiMedia Card slot for adding additional memory. More details are available at the Samsung Camera Web site.
February 27th, 2006
Matsushita plans digital SLR camera debut this year
Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:17 PM EST
Reuters Canada
TOKYO (Reuters) – Panasonic brand maker Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said on Monday it plans to introduce its first digital single-lens reflex (SLR) camera later this year, aiming to grab a slice of the fast-growing market.
The world’s biggest consumer electronics maker has been developing technologies and devices for digital SLR cameras jointly with Japanese precision equipment maker Olympus Corp..
A Matsushita spokeswoman said the company had not decided on a price range for the LUMIX DMC-L1, a prototype of which is being exhibited at the PMA 2006 International Convention and Trade Show in Orlando, Florida.
Olympus has already introduced its E-330 digital SLR camera using the jointly developed mirror box unit and sensor.
Digital SLR cameras, which use interchangeable lenses, are generally more expensive and yield higher profit margins than simple point-and-shoot compact cameras that can be produced by low-cost electronics makers.
The digital SLR camera market has been growing rapidly, and global shipments in this market are expected to increase 48 percent to 5.62 million units by 2008, according to Japan’s Camera and Imaging Products Association.
Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. and Sony Corp., as well as Pentax Corp. and a unit of South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. have sought similar digital SLR camera alliances to pool resources and cut costs.
But Konica said last month it would sell a portion of its SLR camera business to Sony, part of its move to withdraw completely from the business of selling cameras and photographic film.
Shares in Matsushita were down 0.6 percent at 2,465 yen by midday, while Olympus was up 0.6 percent. The Nikkei average was up 0.13 percent.
February 27th, 2006