Digital Imaging & CES News for January 5th 2006

CES New product Announcements CES has always been the site of many new product releases and this year is no different ... Sony Announce several new models. Sony have announced the release of the Cyber-shot S600 and M2 Digicams at CES. The S600 is another in their line of budget digicams (US$200) which features a 3x Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens covering a 31-93 mm equiv. range. Features also include a large 2.0-inch LCD screen, a sensitivity of up to ISO 1000 and a 460 shot battery life. The Cyber-shot M2 Sony US is the successor to the M1, which was originally revealed in Europe back in September. The M2 combines the functionality of a digital stills camera and a digital video camera. This unusual twist and flip design reminds me of the kind of form factor normally seen in mobile phones. For more info visit Sony. Kodak and Lexar Introduce High-Performance Memory Cards KODAK and Lexar High Performance memory cards are designed for digital camera owners who require high-speed processing for rapid-fire still shooting, high frame rate video capture, and fast computer transfer. The cards will initially be available only in SD (Secure Digital) format. The memory cards will be available from Lexar in capacities of 512MB and 1GB this month with larger capacity cards available later on this year. Kodak also announced several new cameras, including the Kodak EASYSHARE C530, C663, V570 and the Z650. They have also updated their EASYSHARE Software to Version 5.2. Samsung Introduce a Combined Camera and Media Device. The Digimax i6 is a 6MP Digital camera which features enhanced multimedia capabilities supporting MP3 and video playback. This is done using the conversion software supplied with the camera. Music can be stored on an SD/MMC card and can be listened to even whilst you are taking pictures. The i6 is only 18.5mm thick, and features a unique curved design. The i6 also features ASR (Advanced Shake Reduction) which is based on an algorithm which reduces the effects of camera shake. Samsung have also introduced several new cameras in the S series ... the S500, S600 and S800. HP, Sanyo, Pentax and Panasonic HP announced the HP Photosmart E327, the HP Photosmart M527/M525/M425 and HP Photosmart R927/R727/R725. Sanyo announced their Xacti HD1 High Definition Video camera (1280 x 720-pixel) which also supports recording a 5 megapixel still photo capability. Pentax also announced two new Optios, the 6 megapixel E10 and the 8 megapixel A10 both of which feature a 3x optical zoom. Panasonic have announced the 6 megapixel DMC-LZ3 / DMC-LZ5 and the Panasonic DMC-LS2 all of which feature the MEGA Optical Image Stabilization system which they put into all of their cameras to compensate for slow shutter speeds and camera shake. There were many other releases announced at CES, I won't go into too much depth, but if you care to read more try LetsGoDigital and Steves Digicams for excellent coverage.