PMA 2009

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(Credit: Casio)

If you know anyone who has asked for just a basic point-and-shoot camera to stick in their back pocket, point them to the Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z29. Priced at $149.95, this 10-megapixel ultracompact camera is low on features outside of having 23 Best Shot scene modes and the ability to set the menu system color to one of six options: black, chocolate, cinnamon, rose, sky blue, and olive green.

Up front is a pedestrian 3X f2.8-5.2 38-113mm-equivalent lens, and in back is a 2.7-inch LCD for framing your shots. Here's hoping at least it's a fast performer.

Available in April in a choice of black, pink, blue, silver, and purple.

LAS VEGAS--Panasonic's camera group isn't happy with its U.S. market share and is working on a new marketing plan to improve it, executives said Tuesday at a photography show.

Panasonic's video-capable DMC-GH1

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

"In looking at the U.S., we have not positioned the Lumix brand to our satisfaction," said Panasonic Executive Vice President Robert Perry at a press event at the Photo Marketing Association show here.

The company has No. 1 digital camera share in France and routinely is first or second in various other areas, but it's working to fix its sales problem in the United States, he said. Specifically, the company has begun a market review, he said.

"Over the coming months, we will see many changes," trying to win the hearts and minds of buyers and trying to fire up the resellers "whom we need to get behind the product and support it and make sure they communicate our value proposition," Perry said.

(Credit: Matthew Fitzgerald/CNET)

JVC joins the rest of the direct-to-Web video party with its Everio X camcorder. It's relatively compact and designed to fit into a jacket pocket. The X has some design novelties, including a 2.8-inch LCD that flips all the way around so that you can view videos while it's closed.

The X incorporates a 1/2.33 10.3-megapixel CMOS to capture 1920x1080 AVCHD video; that's better than most of their higher-end single chip camcorders (which says more about their other camcorders than this one). It can shoot up to 2.4 seconds of 600fps stills for slow-mo playback, such as golf-swing analysis. In addition, burst supports up to 5 shots at 15fps for 9-megapixel stills.

The camcorder debuts a new OIS technology that uses a prism and shifts the outermost lens element for compensation. I'm not quite sure what's going on here yet; I need to read more about it--and test the camcorder, of course--before commenting on it.

The Everio X is slated to ship in late Spring (May/June) for $999. Clearly JVC doesn't understand that the biggest attraction for the pervasive recording market is low price. However, the lens is a pretty short 5x zoom, while its real SD-based competitors--models like the Canon HF series--have more flexible 10X or greater zooms. If it has decent low-light quality it might be able to compete, but that's never been one of the strengths of JVC's consumer products. We'll just have to wait and see.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 hybrid camera photos

When I reviewed Panasonic's groundbreaking Lumix DMC-G1 hybrid camera, my biggest criticism about its features was its lack of movie capture; since Panasonic had announced it would ship a model this year which included the capability, it felt a bit premature to recommend that version. Well, next year is here, and so is the movie-capable version of that interchangeable-lens non-SLR camera, the Lumix DMC-GH1.

While technically the camera records 1080p HD video (1920x1080), that's at 24fps, which isn't quite as nice as 30fps; it drops to 1280x720 for 30fps 720p recording. It's also the first still camera to support AVCHD (though Panasonic announced the TS1 earlier this year which uses a stripped-down version of the codec, AVCHD Lite). You can record to the capacity of the card. There's a stereo mic on top of the camera.

Bolstering the video capability is a revamped version of Panasonic's Venus Engine image processor, the Venus Engine HD, with dual processors to handle the extra data load. Panasonic simultaneously announced two new lenses, one of which (dubbed an "HD" lens) is designed specifically to support continuous and quiet autofocus while shooting video. The Lumix G Vario HD f4-5.8 14-140mm lens will ship in a kit with the GH1. You can control aperture and shutter speed during capture as well, and the company includes its Intelligent Auto capabilities in this mode.

The company also announced plans to release a 45mm f2.8 OIS macro lens and 20mm f1.7 later this year, as well as Micro Four Thirds adapter mounts from partners such as Leica.

I guess Panasonic didn't like the blue of the G1; this model comes in red, gold, and black. The company chose not to announce pricing and availability at this time; will update when I get them.

Did you spend many thousands of dollars on an EOS 1D-whatever Mark III only to find your off-center AF more auto than focus? Well, it's not your imagination. Canon issued a service announcement indicating " If an AF point other than the center AF point is used, focus may become soft. " Ooops. On the bright side, the company is offering free accuracy checks and AF adjustments for those affected. All will be well.

Apple Aperture in action.

(Credit: Apple)

LAS VEGAS--Apple on Monday added support in its software for raw image files from Nikon's top-end SLR, the $8,000, 24.5-megapixel D3X.

Apple's Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 2.5 also adds support for Epson's Epson R-D1x digital rangefinder camera, according to the Apple support page.

The software enables Aperture 2, iPhoto '08, and iPhoto '09 to interpret the cameras' raw files, proprietary formats that include more information than JPEGs. The update requires Mac OS X 10.4.11, Mac OS X 10.5.3, or later.

A full list of Apple's raw image support is available on Apple's support site.

Aperture's competitor, Adobe Systems' Photoshop Lightroom, also got D3X support Monday, which is eve of the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show here.

(Via Rob Galbraith.)

(Credit: Eye-Fi)

Eye-Fi's now ready to unleash its next generation of Wi-Fi SD cards on the point-and-shooting public. The Eye-Fi Share Video and Eye-Fi Explore Video cards, first announced at CES, extend the capabilities of their predecessors to support uploading video directly to YouTube and Flickr via Wi-Fi.

While it'd be great if the cards could upload from the increasing number of Flash-based camcorders, they still only work with cameras; according to the company, that's because they only transmit files found in the DCIM directory. Cameras have a single standard directory structures but camcorders don't.

Eye-Fi has to stash the geotagging information generated by the Explore Video card in a sidecar file as well, since video files don't have a standard for storing it.

The geotagging 4GB Eye-Fi Explore Video card will cost $99 when it ships at the end of this month; the 4GB Eye-Fi Share Video will run $79. The company also dropped the price on its 2GB photo-only cards.

Nikon's D3X is now supported by Adobe Lightroom.

(Credit: Nikon)

LAS VEGAS--Adobe Systems has released the final version of Lightroom 2.3, its photo-editing and cataloging software, along with its close relative, the Camera Raw 5.3 plug-in to let Photoshop CS4 edit raw images from higher-end cameras.

The new software (available as a download for Windows and Mac OS X) supports Nikon's top-end D3X, an $8,000, 24.5-megapixel machine whose owners likely will usually prefer raw files for their flexibility and quality advantages over JPEG. Also supported is Olympus' new midrange E-30.

The Lightroom 2.3 update also fixed a number of bugs and adds support for eight new languages: Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Korean, and simplified and traditional Chinese. Adobe made the announcement Monday just as the Photo Marketing Show (PMA) was getting under way here.

The Camera Raw software works with Adobe's flagship CS4 version of Photoshop, but also with the consumer-oriented Photoshop Elements 7, Premiere Elements 7 for video editing, and Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac OS X.

Kodak EasyShare Z915

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The only announcement to come from Kodak at PMA 2009 was for the EasyShare Z915: a $199.95 pocketable 10-megapixel compact camera with a 10X optical zoom lens and optical image stabilization. It's also powered by two, AA batteries and features a smallish (by today's standards at least) 2.5-inch LCD.

So it's a lot like the Canon PowerShot SX110 IS, except slightly higher resolution and a smaller LCD, but $50 less expensive. Or like the $299 Samsung HZ10W minus the 24mm-equivalent wide-angle lens or the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3, though that one's $399 and features a 28mm lens with 12X optical zoom. Guess this compact megazoom category is more crowded than I thought.

The announcement of the Z915 follows the CES 2009 launch of the Z980 IS, a 12-megapixel dSLR-style shooter with a 24X optical zoom. (Hmmm, could Kodak want a bigger piece of the megazoom market?)

Color options for the Z915 include red, blue, black, and gray (more colors--another differentiator for Kodak in this category). Look for it in April.