Thanks to Gizmodo for pointing this one out. Hasselblad has a 39 Megapixel Digital Camera. Thirty-nine Megapixel. This is like the 1000-HP Twin-turbo Viper of the Digital Camera world.
You owe it to yourself to check this puppy out.

Steve’s Digicams reviews the Nikon Coolpix P1 and writes – ‘The 8-megapixel Coolpix P1 and 5-megapixel P2 are the world’s first builtin Wi-Fi-enabled (802.11b/g-compatible) digital cameras and allow consumers to immediately transmit images wirelessly directly to a computer or to any PictBridge-enabled printer equipped with the optional Nikon Wireless Printer Adapter (PD-10), for wireless printing.’

CNET reviews the Nikon Coolpix P1 and writes – ‘The Nikon Coolpix P1’s most noticeable flaw is its somewhat sluggish performance. Slower than many cameras in its class, it takes more than 5 seconds to grab its first shot after powering up, and it has a poor continuous-shooting rate of 0.7 to 1.4 frames per second’

Nikon Imaging has a great spec sheet available on the Nikon Coolpix P1.

With 8 megapixels on tap, as well as this newfangled wi-fi thing, the Nikon Coolpix P1 has got some potential. The reviews are mixed though, based on sub-par speed, and limited wi-fi use. I’m all for anything that helps clean up my desk – I have wires everywhere!

I just wanted to apologize for the lack of updates in the past few days. I’ve been working on moving this blog over to a Movable Type platform… what a royal PITA. I mean complete, total, PITA. Blogger seems ridiculously easy after trying to setup movable type.

In any case, things are looking good. I’ll have some updates later today, and we should be finishing up the move to the new server in a few days.

Steve’s Digicams reviews the Nikon Coolpix S4 and writes – ‘The Nikon Coolpix S4 is somewhat of a mixed bag. While we love the big 10x optical zoom lens, swiveling body design and its various user-friendly exposure modes; its average image quality, terrible movie mode, and slow flash recycle time really hinders its ability to “be all it can be”.’

Digital Photography Review also reviews the Nikon Coolpix S4 and they write – ‘Not only is the lens of the COOLPIX S4 incredibly powerful, but it is also housed within a unique swiveling body that allows the lens to be directed independently of the LCD monitor. As a result, it provides new potential for taking pictures from a more imaginative range of angles — shooting from the hip, shooting from overhead, and allowing the photographer to point the lens and the LCD monitor in the same direction simultaneously to achieve self-portraits with more accurate composition.’

PC Magazine reviews the Nikon Coolpix S4 and writes – ‘It’s a wonderful design, especially useful for Hail Mary shots or shooting over crowds. Unfortunately, we found the pictures taken with the S4 to be a bit disappointing.’

Overall it sounds like a great design by Nikon is overshadowed by subpar image quality. In each review, you’ll hear praises being sung for the design – and it is a unique design, no question. However, at some point functionality has to take precendence over style. A digital camera should take great pictures first, and be pretty second.

Alright, so you’ve got yourself a fancy digital camera. Now what? Why, go make some money, of course. Fotopages has a great article that offers some ideas on how to do just that. Check it out here – 10 More Ways to Make Money with your Digital Camera.

Jim Miotke over at BetterPhoto.com has written his Top 10 Techniques for Better Pictures.
A lof of his advise in this article seems almost too simple, but with almost anything, keeping it simple is key. Follow these steps, and the quality of your pictures will improve dramatically.

Personal Technology has a great article on how to decide which digital camera to purchase. It doesn’t recommend specific models, which are always changing, but it does give some pointers on how to sift through the myriad offerings. Check it out here – Digital Camera Buyer’s Guide by Personal Technology.

HP announced a number of new models at CES 2006 today. Here’s a little preview of what is to come – thanks to Digital Photography Review.

HP Photosmart R725

• ‘6.2-megapixels for incredible resolution for beautiful prints and enlargements up to poster size
• Internal HP Precision 24x total zoom, 3x optical, 8x digital
• 2-inch LCD for framing and viewing photos and menus – indoors or out’

HP Photosmart R727 and R927 – ‘With 3x optical zoom and 6 or 8.1 megapixel (MP) resolution respectively, keen photographers can enlarge any unique shots up to poster size, without damaging image quality.’

HP Photosmart M527 – ‘This digital camera has 21x total zoom – 3x optical, 7x digital – and features HP Real Life technologies, including HP in-camera red eye removal and HP Design Gallery. With the new HP Design Gallery, users can easily take brilliant digital photos. Intuitive button design allows for quick, one-handed shots, in addition to one-button ordering and sharing of photos with HP Photosmart Express.’

HP Photosmart M525 -

• ‘6-megapixels for impressive resolution for beautiful prints and enlargements up to poster-size
• HP Precision 3x optical lens and 7x digital zoom for 21x total zoom
• 1.7-inch image display, intuitive button layout and overall compact stylish design allow for easy one-handed shots
• 16 MB internal memory allows users to store photos in the camera’

HP Photosmart M425

• ‘5-megapixels for impressive resolution for beautiful prints and enlargements up to poster-size
• HP Precision 3x optical lens and 6x digital zoom for 18x total zoom
• 1.7-inch image display, intuitive button layout and overall compact stylish design allows for easy one-handed shots
• 16 MB internal memory allows users to store photos in the camera’

HP Photosmart E327

• ‘5-megapixels for beautiful prints and enlargements up to poster size
• 1.8-inch image display and intuitive button layout allows for easy one-handed shots
• Compact design with positive on /off slide lens cover
• Shoot video clips with audio’

Imaging Resource reviews the Canon Powershot A610 and writes -’Canon’s PowerShot line of digital cameras have always been big favorites of IR readers, valued for their user-friendly design, excellent photo characteristics, and good build quality. The Canon PowerShot A610 is an very worthy addition near the top of that line, offering a 5-megapixel CCD and a very good quality 4x optical zoom lens.’

Steve’s Digicams reviews the Canon Powershot A610 and writes -’Bottom line – Canon has struck gold with this winning combination of high-quality and low price. The A610 offers users outstanding image quality with robust performance, all in a stylish and very durable package. With its wealth of exposure modes, your entire family will love using it, and with 5-megapixels of resolution you can create high-quality 13×19-inch or heavily cropped 8×10-inch prints. With an MSRP of around $299, the Canon PowerShot A610 offers an excellent value and is definitely one our pics for 2005.’

CNET reviews the Canon Powershot A610 and writes -’If you like to shoot video clips with your still camera, you won’t be disappointed with the PowerShot A610’s VGA movies with sound at 30fps. Unlike most cameras in the A610’s class, it’s compatible with a number of optional accessories, including an underwater housing that’s good to a depth of 130 feet; wide, telephoto, and macro lenses; and a higher-powered flash.’

The Canon Powershot A610 seems to be a very popular, affordable digital camera. As you can tell, it has a lot in common with the A620, which you can read about here. The A610 is available now, with an MSRP of just $299.

Steve’s Digicams reviews the Sanyo Xacti E6 and writes – ‘ The 6-megapixel SANYO Xacti E6 digital camera features a full 3-inch color LCD screen – the largest in its class – which provides an approximately 230% larger viewing area than a 2-inch screen. Such a big screen is ideal for composing and framing the subject, checking the captured photo and sharing pictures with others. The bright, exceptionally viewable trans-reflective LCD screen incorporates a low-temperature polysilicon liquid crystal design known for its excellent color reproduction.’

LetsGoDigital also reviews the Sanyo Xacti E6 and writes – ‘The design of the camera is rather sober. It features smooth round shapes and the housing consists of a matte aluminium material. Without a doubt the large sized monitor is perfectly apt for sharing your photos with family and friends. The camera lacks an optical viewfinder, but the 3-inch display makes you forget about this immediately. The monitor is dominating the entire back of the Xacti E6. We can only cheer at the new trend of equipping digital cameras with large sized screens.’

CNET also reviews the Sanyo Xacti E6 and writes – ‘At half the price, the Sanyo Xacti VPC-E6 might rank as an above-average snapshot camera; in its current price range, it’s competing against much better, fuller-featured models–and coming up short.’

Ouch! Sounds like CNET does not like the E6 at all. But the screen seems to be a good point all around – 3″ on such a small camera seems even bigger. At $349 MSRP at launch, it seems to be a decent, if not spectacular, buy.

Imaging Resource reviews the Olympus Stylus 600 Digital Camera and writes – ‘As the latest in that company’s “Stylus” line of compact digital cameras, the 6-Mp, 3x-zoom Olympus Stylus 600 Digital is to my mind one of the best Stylus Digital models to date. Its body design is trim and compact, with a button-based interface simpler than that found on earlier models. It offers the same water resistance that makes the rest of the Stylus line so practical for go-anywhere photography, and sports a big, beautiful 2.5-inch LCD monitor to view your photos on.’

Steve’s Digicams also reviewed the Olympus Stylus 600 Digital Camera – here’s their take – ‘The compact, all-weather Stylus 600 can go virtually anywhere you can. The body is constructed of durable, lightweight metal with rubber gaskets throughout the interior to ensure that rain, sleet, snow won’t get in the way of great photos. And with its new optimized battery design, the Stylus 600 can take hundreds of shots between charges. Connecting the Stylus 600 to a computer is easy with the USB Auto Connect feature, which connects directly via USB cable and requires no software. ‘
Digital Camera Resource Page has posted some quick specs on the Olympus Stylus 600.

Kodak EasyShare V570 Digital Camera Announced – thanks to Digital Camera Review. Due out in late January at an MSRP of $399, this is a very sharp looking 5 MP camera. In the digital camera business, at least in the regular consumer market, looks can make or break a camera. This one’s definately got the looks , and the price isn’t too terrible.

Get the best price on the Kodak EasyShare V570.

Kodak EasyShare V570 Reviews

Digital Camera Resource Page posted a review of the Kodak Easyshare V570 - they wrote – ‘As soon as you see the Kodak EasyShare V570 ($399) with its lens cover opened you know that this is not just another compact camera. Yes, this camera has two lenses! There’s a fixed focal length 23 mm lens on the top, and a more traditional 39 – 117 mm zoom lens on the bottom. In addition to having two lenses, the V570 has two 5 Megapixel CCD sensors, as well — one for each lens. The camera switches between CCDs instantly.’

Imaging Resource reviews the Kodak EasyShare V570 and writes – ‘ The Kodak V570 presents an interesting problem for us. It’s a camera with a lot in the plus column and a lot in the minus column; yet it still nets out as a positive experience. We really like the camera for its unique dual lens arrangement that includes a surprisingly useful 23mm wide angle lens, but its image quality really isn’t as good as it could be for a 5 megapixel camera. Its fully automatic exposure control performs very well in a wide variety of conditions, requiring less exposure adjustment or tweaking than do most competing models. Auto white balance wasn’t quite as good as it could be, however, and shot-to-shot speed didn’t break any records. But for more difficult shooting conditions, a wide range of preset “Scene” modes extends the camera’s capabilities nicely, perfect for the target market. The V570’s video capabilities are also very good, both sound and video quality are quite good. While sophisticates may prefer more subdued color, we suspect that most consumers will love the bright, vibrant photos the V570 produces. But there’s still that quandary. The V570 has a 5x zoom that’s really a 3x plus a fixed 23mm; and it has two 5 megapixel sensors that produce images that really look more like they came from a 4 megapixel sensor.’

Cool Tech Zone reviews the Kodak EasyShare V570 and writes – ‘The Kodak EasyShare V570 is definitely targeted at beginners. It provides impressive results if used in auto mode as a simple point-and-shoot camera. At the same time, as consumers become more familiar with this camera, they would obviously want to tweak a few settings. The V570 will let them do that as well, albeit to a limited extent. It will let you set exposure compensation, white balance, color mode, sharpness as well as ISO speeds to allow select flexibility. Unlike some of the cameras with a complicated menu system, the V570 lets you set these pretty easily and without much fuss.
At $400, this camera is no doubt a bit expensive, but then you do get the charm of owning the only dual lens camera in the world. To be fair to Kodak, while the camera definitely has some issues, the wide angle lens is amazingly good. If you want to take wide photos at close range (family portraits or group photos) you really can’t do much better than this. The ultrawide angle lens coupled with the 5x optical zoom telephoto lens yields great results.’

It sounds like Cool Tech Zone likes the Kodak V570, just as more of a beginner model. Quite frankly this is a camera that I really like – I’m not a big fan of cameras that are hard to use. Simple, easy, and high quality are the things I look for in my personal digital camera.

Photography Blog reviews the Kodak EasyShare V570 and writes – ‘Image quality is only average, with noticeable noise and blurring at ISOs 200 and 400, which means that the V570 is best suited to situations with adequate lighting, especially if you want to make larger prints. The Kodak Easyshare V570 is just a simple point and shoot camera in terms of creativity, with no control over aperture or shutter speeds, but Kodak have gone to great lengths to make the V570 easy to use, with a wealth of playback and sharing options available. Overall, despite only average image quality and some elements of slow operation, the Kodak Easyshare V570 is an intriguing and fun to use digital camera.’

DPexpert reviews the Kodak EasyShare V570 and although skeptical at first, they seemed to really like it – ‘Parting shot: The dual lens system looks like a gimmick, as though Kodak is straining to create some distinguishing feature for the camera. In fact it works well. For anyone planning a trip that will take in the cramped cities of Europe where it is hard to get back far enough to take in an entire building the V570 will be a boon. We like it!’

Kodak EasyShare V570 Press Release

Innovative KODAK EASYSHARE V570 Camera with RETINA Dual Lens Technology Shown First at CES 2006 in Kodak Booth 31400 (LVCC South/3)

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 2 — Kicking off this week’s 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Eastman Kodak Company today introduced the world’s first dual-lens digital still camera, the KODAK EASYSHARE V570 zoom digital camera. Using proprietary KODAK RETINA Dual Lens technology, the elegant V570 camera wraps an ultra-wide angle lens (23 mm) and an optical zoom lens (39 – 117 mm) into a small, sleek package less than an inch thin.

The innovative EASYSHARE V570 camera’s ultra-wide angle lens coupled with its optical zoom lens produces a total 5X optical zoom range, providing more options to help today’s picture takers capture the perfect shot —group photos, scenic landscapes, dramatic portraits, and close-ups. No other consumer digital camera offers such a wide angle of view, nor the unique, sophisticated design of this model, whose all-glass, stacked SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH C-VARIOGON prism lenses never extend from the camera body.

“Today’s picture takers expect high-performance features in an attractive package. Kodak is first to give them a coveted but previously unavailable ultra-wide angle lens in a pocket-size camera,” said Mary Hadley, general manager of digital cameras for Kodak’s Consumer Digital Imaging Group. “Capturing high quality photos with maximum ease of use are at the top of people’s lists when buying a new digital camera. By delivering on these needs in a completely new way, the EASYSHARE V570 camera pushes the boundaries of innovative design for ultra-compact cameras.”

Wide-Angle Panorama Stitching and Advanced Video Performance

In addition to its dual lens design, the 5-megapixel V570 camera boasts a variety of notable features to enhance the photography experience, including in-camera panorama stitching, which automatically combines three pictures into a panorama photograph. Using the ultra-wide view in panorama scene mode, people can take in a 180-degree vista with just three shots — an industry exclusive.

Packing advanced video performance, the camera makes it easier for users to shoot all types of action in the way that many filmmakers prefer — with an ultra-wide angle to capture more of the scene. The EASYSHARE V570 camera records TV-quality video, up to 30 frames per second (fps) using advanced MPEG-4 compression. Built-in image stabilization technology reduces on-screen shaking from unintentional hand and camera movement. The camera also offers an optical zoom feature for video including auto focus. And it is simple to select any frame in a video, then save and print it as a “freeze frame” still picture in just seconds.

Other notable features of the V570 camera include:

* A big, brilliant 2.5-inch, high-resolution LCD screen;
* The exclusive KODAK Color Science image processing chip for phenomenal image quality with rich color, accurate skin tones, low noise and precise exposure;
* Automatic red-eye reduction, on-camera cropping, picture blur alert and auto picture rotation;
* In-camera distortion correction to compensate for ultra-wide angle fish-eye effects, which can be turned on or off;
* Twenty-two scene modes plus three color modes, helping snap shooters capture the best possible shot with the least possible effort;
* The Photo Frame Dock 2, which provides one-touch picture transfer to a connected computer while keeping the cameras’ high-capacity lithium-ion battery charged and ready to go, and which can play video and photo ‘slideshows’ on the camera’s high-resolution LCD screen;
* And 32 megabytes (MB) of internal memory, plus a SD card slot for additional storage.

The KODAK EASYSHARE V570 zoom digital camera with Photo Frame Dock 2 will be available worldwide beginning later this month for US$399 (MSRP).

EASYSHARE Software and Accessories

The KODAK EASYSHARE V570 camera includes KODAK EASYSHARE software for WINDOWS and MACINTOSH systems, providing effortless digital picture organization, editing, sharing and printing — and even CD and DVD burning. The exclusive One Touch to Better Pictures feature takes advantage of proprietary color technologies developed by Kodak to help users get vibrant, true-to-life prints from inkjet printers, while the enhanced favorites feature helps you always have your best shots at hand, whether on your camera, on your computer, or online via the KODAK EASYSHARE Gallery.

Kodak also makes it easy to accessorize the new V570 camera with a range of products that help show off your pictures. For instance, the popular KODAK EASYSHARE Printer Dock Plus Series 3 (US$179 MSRP) makes it one-touch simple to print real KODAK pictures at home in just 60 seconds — with or without a computer.
Source.

Digital Camera Reviews reviews the Canon Powershot A620 and writes – “I highly recommend this camera. Its quick operation and image quality provide a camera that will not disappoint. This camera is a great choice for someone who wants top-notch quality, wants some manual/creative controls and someone that doesn’t mind a camera larger than an ultra-compact.”

Steve’s Digicams reviews the Canon Powershot A620 and writes ‘These are some of the most well designed models I have dealt with. They are not your typical compact consumer models, yet they are small enough to be carried in a coat pocket or purse. When I first saw the A620 and A610, it seemed like they were a cross between the consumer A95 and the prosumer G6 . After working with the A620, I can now confirm that this is the case. Its high-end features speak of “only the best”, while its more affordable price says “I’m easy on the wallet”.’

The Imaging Resource reviews the Canon Powershot A620 and has this to say – ‘With a silver-metallic case and stylish shape, the A620 is an impressive step up from Canon’s A95, which also started out at $400 when it was introduced a little over a year ago. But the A620’s improvements are far more than skin deep, starting out with its 7.1-megapixel CCD–a significant jump from the A95’s 5-megapixels.’

Digital Photography Review has a review of the Canon Powershot A620. They write – ‘In August 2005 Canon announced two new A series digital cameras, the five megapixel A610 and seven megapixel A620 on test here. Both cameras replace the long-running, and very popular A95, and join the A520 as affordable, well-specified compacts for the enthusiast user on a budget. The A620 certainly looks promising on paper; newly kitted out with the fast DIGIC II processor and a 2.0-inch vari-angle LCD, it has a wealth of shooting options and 4x optical zoom.”

Digital Camera Resource Page has a detailed review of the Canon Powershot A620. Here’s a snippet – ‘The A620 performs very well for a lower priced camera. It starts up in just 1.2 seconds, it focuses quickly, and shutter lag was not a problem. Shot-to-shot and playback speeds were also very good. In low light situations the camera focused accurately thanks to its AF-assist lamp. The PowerShot A620 shines in other areas as well. Its movie and continuous shooting modes are very good, assuming that you’re using a high speed SD card. With that you can record up to 1GB of continuous VGA video with sound, or keep taking photos at 1.9 frames/second until the memory card is full. If you use high power NiMH batteries the A620 beats all of the competition in terms of battery life — too bad Canon doesn’t include any with the camera!’