Hasta La Gadget!

It’s getting harder to keep a secret. Companies toil over surprise parties and then some blabber-mouth spills the beans. In this case the host is Olympus and the one holding the empty can is 43rumors who has word of a series of coming announcements from the company. First, on August 31, Olympus is said to be revealing a new E-P2 kit offering a 17mm lens and an external flash. Also announced will supposedly be a pair of new M.Zuiko lenses: a $900 75 – 300mm (150 – 600mm equivalent) f/4.8 – 6.7 model and a $300 40 – 150mm (80 – 300mm equivalent) f/4.0 – 5.6 model. More interesting, though, is a follow-up announcement said to be coming on September 14, when Olympus will supposedly announce the E-5, a replacement for the E-3 DSLR. This, we’re told, will bump the megapixel count up to 12 from 10 and offer 720p30 video recording. Now that all that is out of the bag, the only question is: what will you be bringing to the parties?

New E-P2 kit and E-5 DSLR rumored, Olympus surprise parties ruined originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic’s DMC-FZ35 (aka the FZ38 in some regions) was highly regarded in its time — which was all of a year ago. The superzoomer won shootouts along with the hearts of many, but now it’s being retired in favor of a new camera, the DMC-FZ45 (aka the FZ40). This one moves up to a 14 megapixel CCD sensor but, according to PhotographyBlog‘s review, doesn’t suffer the resulting decrease in image quality you might expect. Its 24x, 25 – 600mm zoom lens is highly rated, as is the 720p30 mode. A total winner, then, right? Yes — except that it doesn’t compare to Panasonic’s own recently-released FZ100, which does all that and throws in 1080p recording, better burst-shooting, and a few other niceties. That camera is, however, $100 more than the $399 FZ45, so you’re going to have to let your budget be your guide here.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ45 reviewed, bests the FZ35 but falls short of the FZ100 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We told you August 24 would be a significant day for Sony, and sure enough, the company has let the translucent mirror cat out of the bag nice and early today. The A55 and A33 offer Sony’s brand spanking new Translucent Mirror Technology, which allows for such fine things as continuous phase-detect autofocus while shooting at up to 10fps (7fps on the A33) or recording Full HD AVCHD video. A newly developed 15-point autofocus system is also included, with 16.2 and 14.2 Exmor APS HD CMOS sensors for the A55 and A33, respectively. Both shooters come with a fully articulated, 920k-dot, 3-inch LCD screen, while 3D panoramas, automated HDR shot creation, and an Auto+ mode fill out the software goodies. Prices are set at $750 for the A55 in October and $650 for the A33 in September — you can figure out if they’re worth it by checking out the early previews below.

Continue reading Sony Alpha A55 and A33 official: translucent mirror, Full HD video, continuous autofocus

Sony Alpha A55 and A33 official: translucent mirror, Full HD video, continuous autofocus originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 01:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why, it seems like just yesterday we were talking about the CX3 and now here we are, but a few weeks away from the release of Ricoh‘s CX4. The camera is set to hit Japanese retailers on September 3, offering a 10 megapixel backside-illuminated sensor perched behind a 10.7x (28 – 300mm) zoom lens, with a three-inch LCD ’round the back. Ricoh is also talking up an advanced new image stabilization system, five fps burst shooting, 720p video recording, plus all the smile- and scene-detection modes you’d expect out of a modern shooter. MSRP for all this is set at 45,000 Yen in Japan, which equates to about 525 of your American dollars.

Ricoh’s 10 megapixel, 10x zoom CX4 compact hits Japan next month originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fancy they aren’t, but Olympus‘ newest digicam trio will definitely get the job done in a pinch. Kicking things off is the mju-7050, a rather conventional looking shooter with a 14 megapixel CCD sensor, 7x optical zoom lens, an HD movie mode, SD card slot, 2GB of internal memory and a 3-inch rear LCD monitor. The slim and seductive FE-4050 offers up a 12 megapixel CCD sensor, 4x optical zoomer and a far less inviting rear, while the FE-5050 (shown above) steps thing up with a 14 megapixel sensor and 5x optical zoom. Curiously enough, the outfit has refrained from dishing any further details beyond that, only saying that they’ll be hitting Japanese store shelves later this month. We can’t say the mystery is driving us mad, though.

Olympus introduces mju-7050, FE-5050 and FE-4050 point-and-shoot cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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