The latest digital cameras add full-motion video, innovative storage options and/or better-than-ever resolutions in the three-megapixel range.
Full-Motion Digital Cameras Here are some new models we've looked at or received info on lately.
Products: Canon Optura - takes both still and full-motion digital images.
Sony Ruvi - Not yet available in North America. It looks hot, though: 30 minutes of full-motion video, and a LCD (unfortunately, not backlit) that flips up for easy viewing. No FireWire or Digital output; proprietary tape format. Price is expected to be about $1350.
The Sony Mavica line is also undergoing changes. While still considered "current" in North America, the MVC FD5 and FD7 have recently been superseded in Japan by the FD51 and FD71. They have an improved shutter speed and the FD71 is noticeably slimmer than the FD7. The FD7 has a zoom lens missing from the Sony MVC-FD5 digital camera.
We've heard some reports that the Sony Mavicas don't save in a standard JPEG format -- some users note that the files don't appear to have a standard header and may require the use of translation software. Notably, the forthcoming Sony MVC-CD1000, a Mavica with a built-in CD-R drive, provides lower JPEG compression, and provides an option to save in compressed TIFF format.
Yet another innovative Sony model is a new DCM-M1 digital video camera unit that saves videos onto MiniDiscs. The storage capacity limitations of the MiniDisc format means that you only get about 10 minutes of high-quality video per disc (20 minutes in lower quality mode), but the disc-based format allows -- get this! -- in-camera non-linear editing. Scenes (Tracks) are recorded in a "non-linear" format allowing you freedom to arrange and re-arrange your scenes in the playback and edit modes. The unit sports some other interesting features as well, including Ethernet connectivity: an Ethernet port on the power adapter allows you to transfer the still/moving images from the camera to your computer using a web browser as the interface. There's also a gimmicky Drawing layer Effect. With a supplied "stylus," you can draw freehand on top of your still images or video. The video quality of the US$2499.95 DCM-M1 is comparable with today's single-CCD digicams. The most notable limitation of this unit is its inability to perform audio dubbing.
Panasonic: About $1250, this tiny unit is mini-VHC tape-based: you can pop the tapes into an adapter and view them right in your VCR. Great effects, too. Cool!
Casio: The company's "breakthrough" camera was the megapixel QV-5000SX, with the ability to take panoramic photos and full-motion video "mini-movies," up to 6.4 seconds in length. An improved version is now available, known as the QV-7000SX. Priced at US$799, this digital camera from Casio offers a 1.3 megapixel resolution, 8MB of memory, an optical viewfinder, and a 2X digital zoom. The QV-7000SX also includes an external memory option (CompactFlash storage, as offered in the company's QV-700 model) -- a feature lacking in the QV-5000SX.
Casio also offers the QV-770, a model with infrared and mini-movie features. You can also find older models, such as the QV-70B, available at drastically discounted prices. The QV-70B, for example, now sells for US$179. Details at http://www.casio.com/
At PC Expo in June 2000, Casio announced two 2.11-megapixel digital cameras with vast storage capacities, thanks to the inclusion of a 340MB IBM Microdrive. The US$800 QV-2300UXPlus features a 3X optical zoom and the Microdrive as standard features, while a US$700 model known as the QV-2800UX features an 8X optical zoom and allows the addition of the Microdrive as an option. Both cameras feature a lens design that swivels, allowing easy self portraits or over-the-head shots.
Digital Camera Trends:
As noted in a recent Macworld article, the Summer 2000 crop of digital cameras raises the quality bar yet again by offering resolutions in the three megapixel range. These units are capable of producing images at resolutions up to 2,048 by 1,536 -- that's a 9MB file when uncompressed! As with all digital cameras, the issue of digital noise is still a concern, a fact not lost upon the Macworld editors, who note that the Nikon offering produces the cleanest images of the bunch.
The three-megapixel cameras from Epson, Nikon and Olympus also provide a feature we think you'll see on a growing number of future models: the ability to save images with no compression. This obviously makes the files a lot larger (a camera with 16MB of memory can hold only one image in this mode!), but anyone who knows the image fidelity-reducing effects of JPEG's lossy compression algorithm will understand the value of such a feature.
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