Fujifilm FinePix F550EXR
LAS VEGAS — Fujifilm’s CES offering is huge, with 16 new camera models announced. Most are upgrades to existing models, but two of them bring something that seems finally, after years of waiting, to be entering the camera mainstream: GPS geotagging.
The FinePix XP30 sports-cam and the F550EXR mid-range compact both add biult-in GPS to the list of features. These are nowhere near the first cameras to do geotagging, but at last GPS seems to be spreading to consumer cameras, no doubt helped by the great mapping features in apps like iPhoto and Picasa.
The F550EXR is a sleek, thin camera with a 16MP sensor, a 3-inch, 460,000-dot screen which shoots video at 1080p and stills at 12-fps, all through a lens with a 15x zoom (24-360mm 35mm equivalent). Switch to lower quality and you can shoot slo-mo video at 320fps. It promises good low-light performance, and can “smooth” the noise on images by combining several exposures with what Fujifilm calls “Multi Frame Technology”.
There are plenty of gimmicks, too, but the one we like the most is “Navigation Mode”. This will guide you to the spot where you took a photo. Snap your hotel when you arrive on vacation, or grab a photo of your car next time you visit the mega-mart car-park and you’ll never get lost. Simple, but fun and potentially useful. The F550EXR will go on sale in March for $350.
The other GPS cam is the XP30, waterproof to 5-meters and shockproof to 1.5 meters. It has a 14MP sensor, a 2.7-inch anti-reflective screen and a 5X zoom. It’ll shoot 1080p video, offers image stabilization and has the same cool Navigation Mode as it’s sleeker big brother. The XP30 will be out in February for $240. Both of these models have GPS-free versions for $20-$30 less, which hardly seems worth the saving.
See Also:
- Casio 'Hybrid GPS' Camera Tracks You Indoors, Underground
- Nikon Readies Camera-Top GPS Unit
- GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr: GPS for Any Camera
- Unleashed: Bluetooth GPS for Nikon Cameras
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