nüvifone™. The navigation phone.
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LAS VEGAS--Olympus has declared an end to the megapixel race.
"Twelve megapixels is, I think, enough for covering most applications most customers need," said Akira Watanabe, manager of Olympus Imaging's SLR planning department, in an interview here at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA). "We have no intention to compete in the megapixel wars for E-System," Olympus' line of SLR cameras, he said.
Instead, Olympus will focus on other characteristics such as dynamic range, color reproduction, and a better ISO range for low-light shooting, he said.
Increasing the number of megapixels on cameras is an easy selling point for camera makers, in part because it's a simple concept for people to understand. Even though having more megapixels can enable larger prints and enlargement of subject matter through cropping, adding megapixels comes with some drawbacks.
For one thing, smaller pixels can mean more noisy speckles at the pixel level and can reduce the dynamic range, so brighter areas wash out and darker areas become swaths of black. For another, images take more room on memory cards, hard drives, and Web servers, and cameras need more powerful image processors to handle them. And yesteryear's cameras already had plenty of pixels for making 8x10-inch prints, a size few people exceed.
... Read moreLAS VEGAS--Lexar plans to introduce faster, higher-capacity CompactFlash cards using a new generation of the flash memory technology, a company executive said Wednesday.
Lexar's top-end 300X cards will be outpaced by new models shipping later this year.
(Credit: Lexar)Lexar's current top-end 300X-rated CompactFlash cards use a standard called UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access) to transfer data at 45MB/second, and their capacity tops out at 16GB. But using a new generation of the standard, UDMA 6, Lexar will release cards that have significantly faster transfer speeds and larger capacity, Jeff Cable, director of marketing, said in an interview here at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show here.
Cable wouldn't be pinned down on precise details, but he said the new cards' capacity "probably" would be 32GB, and their transfer speeds likely would "pretty close to" UDMA 6's threshold of 100MB/sec, which is more than double that of today's UDMA.
Only newer SLR (single lens reflex) cameras support current UDMA technology, but it's spreading, and there are benefits. For example, cameras can take longer continuous bursts of photos, and photographers can zoom faster to check focus when reviewing shots on the camera LCD. Video, which is arriving in new SLRs, also can saturate data-transfer pathways.
... Read moreLAS VEGAS--The bad economy has hurt the photography business, but there are a few areas of growth amid the gloom.
Among the bright spots are digital SLR cameras, photo books, memory-keeping moms, and Web sites adapted for mobile phone use., concluded InfoTrends analysts sharing research results at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show here Wednesday.
Overall, though, the mood is grim.
"It sure feels different at this year's PMA. There's not so much booth space, not so much traffic. The energy level is down. This recession feels different from back in '01 (which was) somewhat contained to the tech sector," said InfoTrends President Jeff Hayes. "Now it has become an issue of a consumer confidence crisis and has become a lot more broadly based. The photo industry is feeling this."
... Read moreLAS VEGAS--Digital SLRs showed strong growth last year, but the sales surge will begin to moderate, according to a new report by the Camera and Imaging Products Association.
SLR cameras are bulky and expensive, yet they're also responsive, work better in dim conditions, and are flexible because photographers can change lenses. Year-over-year sales of digital SLRs grew 42 percent to 7.5 million units worldwide in 2007, CIPA said this week.
By contrast, the SLR growth rate will dip to 22 percent in 2008, 13 percent in 2009, and 9 percent in 2010, the CIPA predicted. That corresponds to digital SLR shipments of 9.1 million, 10.3 million, and 11.2 million units, respectively.
It's been tough forecasting camera shipments because purchasing patterns have changed, so analysts have had to push back the year camera shipments are expected to peak. The old days of one camera per family are fading, replaced by the one-camera-per-family-member era. And some people buy multiple cameras for different jobs--tossing into a purse, traveling, or shooting their children's sports events.
The market for compact digital cameras also will grow, CIPA said, but it's a significant notch below SLR rates. It grew 26 percent to 92.9 million units in 2007 and is expected to grow 11 percent to 102.8 million this year, 7 percent to 110.1 million in 2009, and 5 percent to 115.3 million in 2010.
The total digital camera market topped 100 million for the first time in 2007--barely--with sales of 100.4 million. Expect 111.9 million for 2008, 120.4 million in 2009, and 126.5 million in 2010.
The CIPA findings made the rounds here at the Photo Marketing Association trade show, where camera makers salivate over the prospect of millions of high-end SLRs being sold. Even if growth rates are tapering off, they're still positive. And the fact that SLRs today typically cost at least $700 means serious money is on the table.
CIPA also shared statistics for SLR lenses, and there, too, growth rates are slowing. A total of 12.5 million were sold in 2007. That number is forecast to jump to 14.7 million this year, to 16.3 million in 2009, and 17.4 million in 2010.
Nikon's new 10.2MP D60 will cost about $750 for a kit that includes the camera body and an 18-55mm VR lens.
(Credit: Nikon)Just on the heels of the camera's official announcement, Nikon has now announced official pricing for its new 10.2MP entry-level dSLR. The camera, which will be available in stores in February 2008, will cost about $750 for a kit that includes the camera body, as well as an 18-55mm lens with Nikon's Vibration Reduction optical image stabilization.
Nikon's original announcement of the D60 said that pricing would be available 30 days prior to the camera's availability. Since January has 31 days, and February has 29 days this year, thanks to the joy of the leap year, Nikon is keeping true to its word. Even if your local camera store is closed 30 days from now (this announcement went public at 11pm Eastern Standard Time), there will still be one day left in February for you to run out and buy the D60, as long as everything goes according to Nikon's master plan.
Sony's new 24.8MP sensor could help make the relative newcomer to the SLR market become a force to be rekoned with.
(Credit: Sony)In a surprise announcement that underscores how dedicated Sony has become to its digital camera division, the company says that it has developed a full-frame, 35mm-format 24.81-megapixel CMOS sensor. As if a high-rez, full-frame sensor isn't good enough, Sony says that the new sensor will be able to yield an impressive 6.3 frames per second. By contrast, Canon says its 21.1MP EOS 1Ds Mark III can shoot up to 5fps. The strange part about the new Sony sensor is that it only offers 12-bit output, while higher-end SLRs, such as Canon's 1Ds Mark III and Nikon's D3, already offer 14-bit output.
Further details remain murky, for the most part, though Sony did say that the sensor uses what they call a Column-Parallel A/D Conversion Technique, which means that each column of pixels on the sensor gets its own analog-to-digital converter. Sony says that this helps keep noise levels low, while allowing for faster A/D conversion, which likely contributes to the sensor's fast frame rate. However, Sony hasn't said whether this new sensor will be part of its Exmor line of sensors or if it will be included in the company's upcoming pro-level SLR, which was first announced at last year's PMA show. We will continue to try to dig up more information about the sensor while at the show and will provide an update if any new information comes to light.
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