Hasta La Gadget!

And you thought Ricoh’s G700 was fully featured. Premiering at Photokina this week, the souped-up G700SE is a modified version of the G700 that appeared last month, with this guy able to accept add-on modules that can boost functionality by a good bit. The prototype unit here in Germany was showcased alongside of the GP-1 GPS dongle and a BR-1 bar code scanning module, with the latter meant more for governments and enterprises. It’s still encased in a dust- and water-resistant shell, and it packs integrated 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR to boot. All of the other specs remain the same from the original G700 (which you can peek here), and if you’re looking to buy one, you’ll have to wait until the earlier half of 2011 for it to splash down at around €799 ($1,070) — according to booth representatives, anyway.

Oh, and for fans of the GXR series, we stumbled upon an A12 28mm f/2.5 lens module that’ll slot right into the company’s interchangeable camera starting in Q4. So long as you have €649 ($869) to spare.

Ricoh’s rugged G700SE point-and-shoot does Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS and more (eyes-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 09:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Digital Journal of Photography  |  Imaging Resource  | Email this | Comments

Digg To say the Micro Four Thirds / mirrorless battle is heating up would be understating things greatly. It’s certainly the segment getting the most focus here at this year’s Photokina, and with Panasonic cranking out yet another, we don’t see any signs of it slowing down. The newfangled Lumix DMC-GH2 made its official debut yesterday, bringing with it an impressive list of specifications and compatibility with an oh-so-curious 3D lens that we peeked in prototype form back at IFA. When speaking to booth representatives here in Cologne, we learned that said lens will actually save both a 3D and 2D version of each picture you take, making it a far more viable option for someone who is just looking to test the 3D waters without giving up entirely on 2D. The camera itself felt sufficiently light, but it doesn’t seem much more compact than the GH1 before it. And at $900, we’ve got our hearts set on a bona fide DSLR — sorry, but it’s true. Anywho, hit the gallery below if you’re itching for a closer look at your maybe-possibly-probably next shooter (along with glimpses at the trio of lenses that were also revealed here at the show).

Panasonic Lumix GH2 and 3D interchangeable lens hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Well, would you look at that? The rumor mill nailed it once more, and we couldn’t be happier about it. Here at Photokina, Panasonic just removed the veil from its glistening Lumix GH2, a followup camera that looks to be worth every penny it’ll cost you to upgrade. There’s a 16 megapixel Live MOS sensor, SD / SDHC / SDXC memory card slot, Micro Four Thirds mount, 23 points of auto focus tracking, face detection and so, so much more. Like what, you ask? Like an ISO range from 160 to 12800, hot shoe accessory mount, 3-inch rear LCD, mini HDMI output, USB 2.0 connectivity, a 2.5mm remote / external microphone input and a 1080/60i movie mode.

Read on for more…

Continue reading Panasonic’s $900 Lumix GH2 officially debuts: 16MP, 1080p movie mode, 3D interchangeable lens

Panasonic’s $900 Lumix GH2 officially debuts: 16MP, 1080p movie mode, 3D interchangeable lens originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Sep 2010 04:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Casio’s Exilim EX-H20G and EX-Z16 certainly stole the spotlight in the company’s press conference here at Photokina, but a couple of other point-and-shoots managed to sneak out simultaneously over in Tokyo. Unfortunately, neither the Exilim EX-Z2300 nor the EX-ZR10 will be making a stateside debut, but those situated in continents not named North America may certainly be interested. The former of the two utilizes a 14.1 megapixel sensor, a 3-inch rear LCD (960 x 480 resolution) and a 5x optical zoomer, with other specifications including an SD / SDHC card slot, 34.9MB of inbuilt memory, 720p video recording, an ISO range from 50 to 3200, CCD-shift image stabilization and a rechargeable battery good for around 580 shots.

Moving on to the ZR10 (not to be confused with Pentax’s similarly named RZ10), this one is Casio’s HDR baby. During the company’s presser, executives went on (and on) about how wunderbar the camera’s inbuilt HDR ART function was, and honestly, the images that were being displayed were indeed pretty fanciful. The point-and-shoot relies on a back-illuminated 12.1 megapixel sensor, the Exilim Engine HS, 28mm 7x zoom lens, an automatic panorama option and a newfangled burst mode that enables up to 30 shots of 10 megapixel images to be taken, with high-speed burst shooting at a maximum speed of 40 shots per second. Better still, the company has upped the video resolution here to 1080p, while also throwing in an SD / SDHC / SDXC card slot, ISO range of 100 to 3200 and a rechargeable battery. No one’s talking pricing, release dates nor release regions just yet (aside from shunning America, of course), but we’ll be sure to update just as soon as those facts and figures hit our desk. Oh, and we did manage to score a few precious seconds with this guy here in Köln, and it’s exceedingly slim given the feature set. We can’t speak for the image and video quality first-hand, but based on what was shown and the aesthetic that we witnessed, we’d say the ZR10 has a bright future ahead of it.

Continue reading Casio reveals Exilim EX-Z2300 and EX-ZR10 point-and-shoots, sells HDR hard

Casio reveals Exilim EX-Z2300 and EX-ZR10 point-and-shoots, sells HDR hard originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Olympus isn’t saying much (and that’s understating things greatly), but it’s using this year’s Photokina trade show in order to tease a new integrated compact camera that’s meant to serve an exceedingly narrow niche. So far as we can tell, this new “flagship” compact camera is the world’s first with an “integrated Zuiko lens,” meaning that it’s actually not a Micro Four Thirds rig. We’re still waiting to speak with someone at the company to find out exactly what the purpose is here, but we’re getting the impression that it’s meant to provide extreme resolution in the palm of your hand — no need in grabbing the D3X if you can capture the next LeBron James mural with something this small, right? The press release insinuates that we won’t know much more until CES 2011 (or sometime in Q1 2011, anyway), but at least we know that the accessory port will enable it to play nice with PEN peripherals.

Continue reading Olympus teases Zuiko-equipped compact camera, leaves us desperate for details

Olympus teases Zuiko-equipped compact camera, leaves us desperate for details originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 08:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Quesabesde  |  Olympus  | Email this | Comments