Sawan's Imaging Weblog

Panasonic introduces Lumix Phone

imagingnews — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 09:51:48 +0000

Electronics giant Panasonic famed for its Lumix series digital cameras has now unveiled the Lumix series of mobile phones. Keeping up with the brand name, the phones feature a whopping 13.2-Megapixel camera sensor and a 27mm wide lens. The first of the series has a dimension of 116x52x17.7mm (LxWxD) and weighs about 146gm. The slider camera-phone has a 3.3-inch touchscreen LCD and is available in black, pink, blue and gold colors. The Lumix Phones will be available exclusively in Japan.

Nikon India announces price of 55-300mm VR lens

imagingnews — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 06:55:21 +0000

Nikon India launched the consumer telephoto zoom lens, the AF-S DX Nikkor 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR at a competitive price of INR 20,155. The lens designed for the D-SLRs with APS-C format sensors will provide a focal length range of 82.5-450mm. With such a range, the Vibration Reduction lens becomes an ideal companion for consumers interested portraiture as well as wildlife photography.

Samsung PL90 comes with built-in USB plug

imagingnews — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 07:06:54 +0000

Samsung announced a 12-Megapixel compact camera-the PL90 that has a built-in USB plug for wire-free connectivity. The plug comes handy to charge the camera battery as well.

The PL90 is a beginner’s digicam armed with a 4x optical zoom lens that starts at fairly wide 29mm equivalent focal length. Other notable features include Smart Auto Function, Objective Tracking AF, Perfect Portrait System and VGA movie capture at 30/15 fps. The Samsung PL90 digicam will be available from September 2010 at an approximate price of USD149.

Casio releases two new EXILIM cameras with Single Frame SR Zoom

imagingnews — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 05:07:14 +0000

Casio launched the EXILIM Card EX-S200 (top pic) and EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z800 compact cameras with Single Frame SR zoom feature. The feature, as Casio claims, allows 1.5x digital zoom without any visible loss in picture quality. This means a user should be able to efficiently exploit 6x zoom from the 4x optical zoom offered by these models.

Both the 14.1-Megapixel compacts feature 27-108mm equivalent lens and CCD-shift image stabilization mechanism. The card-sized EX-S200 is slim at 17.8mm. It has a Quick Mode in which a single press of the shutter release button instantly powers up the camera, takes and previews a picture and automatically powers it down. The EX-Z800 has a Dynamic Photo function to create composite moving images, making it possible to have multiple characters moving independently of each other against a background of moving images up to as long as 20 seconds.

Panasonic’s pocket-sized Full HD camcorder HM-TA1

imagingnews — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:38:21 +0000

As if the HDC-SDX1 camcorder-cum-webcam was not small enough, Panasonic launched a smaller pocket-sized mobile video camera that shoots Full-HD (1920 x 1080-pixels) video. The HM-TA1 is thinner than 18mm and measures barely 53 x 104mm (WxH). It features an integrated USB terminal and software that allows easy video uploading to online sharing sites. Like the SDX1, the TA1 supports the Apple iFrame video format (960 x 540/30p). The pocketable device also records still photos of up to 8-MegaPixels (interlaced). Among other features are a built-in LED light, 2-inch LCD monitor, E.I.S. (Electrical Image Stabilization), 4x digital zoom and various color effects such as sepia, monochrome and soft skin. The deice can be charged through its USB port. The TA1 will be available in purple, dark grey and red colors at a suggested retail price of USD169.95 from August 2010.

Panasonic launches world’s smallest Full-HD camcorder-cum-webcam

imagingnews — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:03:16 +0000

Panasonic introduced an ultra-compact camcorder that shoots Full-HD (1920 x 1080-pixels) video and can be used as a web camera for Internet video calling as well. Measured at 51.5 x 57.5 x 107.5 mm (WxHxD), the SDX1 features a 16.8x optical zoom lens that starts at 35.8mm wide angle. Panasonic has incorporated a 23x “Intelligent Zoom” to it. Other notable features are a new HYBRID O.I.S. (optical image stabilizer), AF/AE Tracking, Face Detection, Intelligent Contrast Control and Intelligent Scene Selector. What’s more, the SDX1 supports Apple iFrame video format (960 x 540/30p) and users can directly upload video clips to YouTube or Facebook without having to launch a browser. The camcorder records onto SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards. The SDX1 weighs 229gm. along with its battery and memory card. The camcorder will be available at a suggested retail price of USD449.95 from September 2010.

Sony launches three prime Alpha lenses 24mm f/2, 35mm f/1.8 & 85mm f/2.8

imagingnews — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:25:57 +0000

Sony added three new lenses to its optics stable for Alpha series DSLR cameras. The new fixed focus lenses are Distagon T* 24mm F2 SSM, DT 35mm F1.8 SAM and the 85mm F2.8.

The 24mm Distagon lens is designed along with Carl Zeiss and supports DSLRs with full frame sensor. The 35mm lens is light at 170gm. It is designed to offer 50mm equivalent focal length to an APS-C size sensor, with a large f/1.8 aperture. Meanwhile, the 85mm lens aimed at portrait photography supports full frame sensors. It has a minimum focusing distance of 60cm, shortest in its class.

Sony introduces world’s smallest 3D digicams

imagingnews — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 08:43:39 +0000

Sony launched two CyberShot compacts- the DSC-TX9 (top image) and the DSC-WX5 (bottom image) which, it claims to be the world’s smallest digital still cameras to create 3-dimensional pictures.

The 12.2-MegaPixel cameras with single lens system capture 3D images using a sweeping motion. The 3D Sweep Panorama feature lets you take panoramic pictures in one press-and-sweep motion. The high-speed burst of frames is stitched together using an innovative processing techniques to automatically create 3D panoramas. The resultant picture can either be seen in 2D or 3-dimensionally on a compatible 3D television (with specialized glass). Besides the 2.8-inch LCD monitors of the two cameras offer 3D view if tilted back and forth (somewhat like hologram stickers!).

The TX9 has a 25-100mm equivalent zoom lens whereas the lens of WX5 offers 24-120mm equivalent focal length. Both the models feature optical image stabilization. Other features include Background Defocus mode that blurs background and a unique Superior Auto mode that takes multiple shots to reduce image noise and extend dynamic range. In addition, the cameras shoot Full HD video (1920 x 1080-pixels).

The TX9 will be priced at about USD400 and available in dark gray and red colors. The WX5 on the other hand will be available in silver and black for about USD300.

FUJIFILM introduces FinePix Z800EXR

imagingnews — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:27:23 +0000

FUJIFILM added another compact to its Z-series fashionable camera line. The new FinePix Z800EXR is a 12-MegaPixel that ranges from 36-180mm equivalent focal length. The camera features a 3.5-inch wide touchscreen monitor with 460,000-pixels and supports Dual Image display. Its Dual Direction GUI detects the orientation of the camera and automatically switches the direction of the menu button accordingly. Among other notable features are Intelligent Image Stabilization (includes sensor-shift mechanism), Hybrid High Speed Auto Focus (phase detection+contrast AF), 720p movie recording, 360 degree motion panorama and face recognition up to eight faces in a frame.

FUJIFILM’s new compact boasts 24-360mm lens

imagingnews — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:18:12 +0000

FUJIFILM incorporated a whopping 15x zoom lens to its latest compact, the FinePix F300EXR. What’s more, the lens starts at 24mm equivalent, an angle that can be considered as ultra-wide for a compact camera. The 12-MegaPixel F300EXR also features Hybrid High Speed Auto Focus (phase detection and contrast AF). The metal body of the 23mm thin camera boasts of features like Intelligent Image Stabilization (sensor-shift + ISO adjustment), 720p HD (1280 x 720-pixel) movie recording capability, Tracking AF and Face Recognition up to eight faces in a frame. It also features 360 degree motion panorama shooting. According to FUJIFILM’s claim, the Super EBC Coating on lens will keep ghosting and flare to minimum.