Really new is a digital camera from Fuji with an integrated printer. It's
so new that there is no printed information available yet. What they
could tell was this: it will be a digitalcamera (no zoom at the moment),
which should be released in the middle of 1999 with 1.5 megapixels and an
integrated printer which prints out polaroid photos. The model they had
on exhibition was a "pre-production" model with only 300.000 pixels. Price
and name is still unknown. You can review your photos on the LCD and
give them borders for the print out. The pictures are saved on SmartMedia
cards and because of its form I think this gadget is based on the MX-700 or
MX-500, but I really don't know and the Fuji people at Photokina didn't
know either.
The new Rollei digital SLR camera with 3x-zoom seems to be a real hit. It
can save pictures on SmartMedia, CompactFlash and even PC-Cards up to
520MB!. It has an aluminium case and is connectable to PC and Mac via
serial, SCSI or parallel port cables. It's 2/3" CCD-Chip (1280 x 1024) has
30 bit colour depth. It has an integrated flash and the possibility to connect an
external flash via the hot shoe contact. The lens is equivalent to
35-105 mm zoom. The price will be somewhere between $1700 and $2300 here
in Germany.
The new Sony DSC-D700 should be released in November (like the Canon and the
Rollei). Believe me, it looks very cool, very professional and very
great. It has a 1/2" CCD Chip with 1.5
Megapixel and a lens with a 5x zoom, equivalent to 28-140 mm. Exposure will
be possible between 4 sec. and 1/2000 secs. Automatic, Programmed, or
you can control everything - if you want to - or let the Sony do the work.
It behaves like a real SLR camera including the view through the
TTL-viefinder where you can see a little LCD display with info about exposure,
etc. Pictures are saved on a new media (bad!)- the "Memory Stick" which fits
in the camera with a PC-Card adapter. At the moment Sony only has sticks
with 8 MB but they plan to produce sticks with 64 MB. The stick should
become the new Sony standard for entertainment-electronics. All new Sonys
(Walkman, Camcorder, etc.) should be equiped with it. The price is very
high in comparison to other digital cameras with this resolution: $2300
here in Germany.
(From Steve: The new Sony DSC-D700 will accept standard PCMCIA Type II memory cards.
The Sony Memory Stick has a Type II adapter and is not the only memory
device this camera will use.)
The new and soon to be released
Canon PowerShot Pro70 looks and feels
really great. Features as known and described. But the problem with it is
that it has no integrated flash and you can only use the new Canon
"multiblitz" (multiflash). Other flash units won't work, the Canon
representative was really unlucky about this fact, because everyone asked
about this. Price will be somewhere between $1400 and $1700 here in Germany.
