Casio goes on megapixel high, skims on size

Unlike Samsung which usually employs an "overwhelm or biggest-fastest-tiniest" strategy, Casio is its usual gentle self when announcing new cameras--this time with the 10.1-megapixel Z1050 and the 7.2-megapixel Z75.

Both cameras are fairly mild upgrades to the current Z1000 and Z70 with support for SDHC flash media. By trimming the size of the LCD screen from 2.8 inches down to 2.6 inches, Casio has managed to shave a few "significant" grams off the Z1050. Maximum sensitivity, however, gets a boost to ISO 800. The thinner of the two--the Z75--has even less to talk about save for a slightly larger 2.6-inch LCD compared with the 2.5-inch panel on the Z70. No optical image stabilization like the V7 announced earlier at CES, though.

These two cameras are expected in Asia by the end of this first quarter.

Samsung goes into overdrive with i7, L74 Wide and NV11

Samsung's top echelons must have been working their engineers really hard. Camera dust from CES has barely settled and the Korean chaebol is already announcing three more new shooters to flood the market.

When was the last time you heard of a camera doubling as a tour guide? Never? Well, two of Samsung's cameras do exactly that. The i7 and the L74 Wide feature a built-in Tour Guide function that provides access to travel information covering 4,500 regions in 30 countries. If that's not enough, you can pump more tidbits into the 450MB internal memory which, frankly, is an awesome amount of space.

Both cameras are fitted with a large 3.0-inch touchscreen LCD and come with face recognition AF/AE functions. Here's the interesting bit: You can rotate the i7's screen. At neutral position, the camera doubles as a music player. Turn the panel 90 degrees and the shooter morphs into a portable media player; push it further and you'll have a camera that takes pictures and videos.

Paling in comparison with the i7 and the L74 Wide is the NV11 which features a 10-megapixel image sensor, 5x optical zoom, face recognition and a maximum ISO 1,600. No word on when these cameras will be available in Asia, but friends in the US can get the NV11 in May for about US$400. The L74 Wide ships this Spring with a suggested retail price of US$350.

On a totally separate note, either our eyes are playing tricks on us or our minds are still on vacation mode that the NV5 slipped past us unnoticed. Or perhaps we missed the announcement altogether. Other than the lack of an optical image stabilizer, the NV5 could almost be a replica of the NV7, with a 7.2-megapixel sensor, 7x optical zoom and 2.5-inch LCD.

Samsung rolls text messaging and HSDPA into digicam

While some people are still fiddling with yesteryear's Wi-Fi shooters, Samsung has gone ahead to add texting capabilities and HSDPA support to its VLUU i70 digital camera, according to a report by TrustedReviews.

The VLUU i70 will be equipped with a 7.2-megapixel CCD, 3-inch LCD screen, Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR) and double as a portable media player. We think it's the i70 announced at CES, on steroids. If that is true, then the camera should also come with face recognition AE/AF functions, record 720 x 480-pixel MPEG-4 movies and have a maximum ISO 1,600 setting.

No word on when this Samsung will be available outside kimchi land, but being able to upload decent-quality pictures without being confined to a hotspot as well as send text messages with our snaps sound like good news. All we have to do now is wait.

Olympus goes trippy with new cameras

Several new Olympus models were disclosed on dpreview January 25, ahead of the embargo at 1300 hours GMT imposed on the media (and we wonder why). Stealing the limelight is the SP-550 UZ and the Mju 770 SW. The 7.1-megapixel ultrazoom camera boasts an 18x optical zoom that begins at a wide 28mm angle, with CCD shift-type image stabilization and a 15 frames-per-second burst mode (1.2-megapixel resolution) thrown in as goodies.

Extreme photographers also have something to smile about. The Mju 770 SW is the latest upgrade to the company's range of tough cameras, with the ability to dive 10m underwater and withstand temperatures of up to minus 10 degrees Celsius. That's not all. This Mju can also survive 1.5m drops and a maximum load of 100kg.

Five other cameras were announced including the Mju 760 with dual image stabilization (CCD shift and high ISO settings) and the FE-250 with a maximum sensitivity setting of ISO 10,000 (no mistake here) at 3-megapixel resolution. Click here for the list of upcoming Olympus digicams.

Olympus Singapore was unable to comment with regard to the embargo issue. While we're still waiting for local availability and pricing details, the SP-550 UZ is estimated to cost US$499.99 and the Mju 770SW is expected to squeeze US$399.99 from your pockets.

Olympus SP-550 UZ first take
Olympus Mju 770SW first take

Microsoft plugs in for digital photographers

While this is hardly considered a ground-breaking announcement, Microsoft's recent release of the Photo Info add-in for Windows should appeal to photographers who want to edit metadata on-the-fly.

The new Photo Info software is available as a free download on Microsoft's Web site. What the program does is allow the user to quickly add, change or delete metadata via a tab-browsing interface and provides additional information when you hover your mouse over the pictures. According to Microsoft, initial file formats supported include JPEG, TIFF, WDP, HDP, NEF, CR2 and CRW. No love there for Macintosh users since the add-in runs on only 32-bit versions of Windows XP SP2 and Vista operating systems.

Click here to download the software.

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