PMA 2006 - Most Promising New Digital Cameras
Well,
The PMA 2006 photography product conference is underway, and all the major camera manufacturers have made recent announcements. With such a flurry of new products, you have to do a bit of homework to figure out what's really interesting. Here's my take on the most promising new products:
1. Fuji FinePix F30 - this pocketable, compact point-and-shoot camera is the successor to the Fuji F10 and F11 boasts an amazing ISO3200 sensitivity, making it an amazing low-light, ambient light camera. Unlike other recently announced cameras that use "pixel binning", this one is likely to really give you full-resolution low light pictures.
2. Panasonic Lumix TZ1 - this is a one-of-a-kind (as of right now), an image-stabilized 10x super zoom camera that is almost pocketable. The reason this 10x zoom camera is small compared to other 10x zooms is that it uses folded lens optics, in which the lens is bent 90 degrees within the camera body with a prism. Although this technology has been seen before, this is the first one with a 10x real optical zoom.
One disappointing trend in digicams is that lenses are getting less bright. For instance, the classic Sony F717 opened as wide as f/2.0, as well as the Canon G6 and Panasonic Lumix LC1. Pretty much all of the new cameras have f/2.8 or worse lenses. Although image sensors are improving on noise, it is offset by giving up a stop in lens brightness.
The PMA 2006 photography product conference is underway, and all the major camera manufacturers have made recent announcements. With such a flurry of new products, you have to do a bit of homework to figure out what's really interesting. Here's my take on the most promising new products:
1. Fuji FinePix F30 - this pocketable, compact point-and-shoot camera is the successor to the Fuji F10 and F11 boasts an amazing ISO3200 sensitivity, making it an amazing low-light, ambient light camera. Unlike other recently announced cameras that use "pixel binning", this one is likely to really give you full-resolution low light pictures.
2. Panasonic Lumix TZ1 - this is a one-of-a-kind (as of right now), an image-stabilized 10x super zoom camera that is almost pocketable. The reason this 10x zoom camera is small compared to other 10x zooms is that it uses folded lens optics, in which the lens is bent 90 degrees within the camera body with a prism. Although this technology has been seen before, this is the first one with a 10x real optical zoom.
One disappointing trend in digicams is that lenses are getting less bright. For instance, the classic Sony F717 opened as wide as f/2.0, as well as the Canon G6 and Panasonic Lumix LC1. Pretty much all of the new cameras have f/2.8 or worse lenses. Although image sensors are improving on noise, it is offset by giving up a stop in lens brightness.
posted by jasonz at
10:50 PM
