Smaller and lighter dSLRs with the new Micro Four Thirds System

Olympus and Panasonic have announced a new imaging standard that promises more compact devices that won't weigh you down. The two companies are strong advocates of the Four Thirds System, with their researchers working on it together. Now, another revolution is set to take place with the announcement of the Micro Four Thirds System.

This new standard has three main benefits:

1) Approximately 50 percent shorter distance between lens mount to sensor.
2) Lens mount diameter to shrink by 6mm.
3) Increase from nine to 11 electrical contacts.

A quick overview of these features would be smaller, lighter dSLRs (yes, even smaller than the Lilliputian E-420) and more "system functionality" to be incorporated to the lens, as briefed in their press release.
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Ball-shaped camcorder

Another day, another ball-shaped device to talk about. But this time, it is not a digital still camera. Rather, it's a camcorder that is smaller than a ping-pong ball.

The DVR CamBall hails from Korea, and house within the tiny physique are all the necessary components for capturing 320 x 240- or 640 x 480-pixel video clips. It has an SD memory slot to expand the capacity up to 8GB. All in all, it is a fully functional digital camcorder minus the LCD screen for framing or playback.

It doesn't help that we don't understand Hangul (the Korean's writing system) and the page doesn't have any text coding so we were not able to use a translation software. Therefore, we cannot decipher the specifications listed on its Web site. But from the pictures, it seems there is a four-way directional pad with LED indicators around it to display what mode it is in. From the contents in the package, it appears that this videocam is powered by a cell rechargeable via USB.

Starting from US$185, the DVR CamBall is available only on its site for now.

Via Technabob

Fujifilm debuts HD-enabled camera

Fujifilm Canada has jumped the gun and announced on its Web site two new shooters from the Japanese company. From what we know, these two models were not supposed to be unveiled before mid-August, so our guess is someone in that office is going to get the boot.

The FinePix S2000HD is a prosumer camera styled like a dSLR, but unlike its predecessors, this model is capable of capturing 720p-quality video. This will also be Fujifilm's first HD-video-enabled shooter. The 15x optical zoom and large sensor size seem to pit this bridge against Panasonic's new Lumix DMC-FZ28. The Fujifilm is equipped with sensor-shift image stabilization to counter shaky hands, while the Real Photo Technology will keep colors accurate.

The latest iteration to come from the J-series is the FinePix J150w. It is a substantial upgrade from the FinePix J50. Besides an exterior overhaul (using metal for the shooter's body now), the features are bumped up as well. It now sports face detection, high ISO sensitivity of 3,200, and a 5x optical zoom with 28mm wide-angle lens. Also new to the family are the J100, J110w and J15.

According to Fujifilm Canada, the FinePix S2000HD and J150w will retail for approximately US$294 and US$292, respectively.

We contacted Fujifilm Singapore but the company declined to comment as of press time. However, we will update once we have more information.

Picture credit: Fujifilm Canada

Nikon offers to beef up buffers for D3 users

Nikon has issued a service note with some nice news for D3 owners: For US$500 and a trip to the service center--for your camera, not you--the company will take your D3 and double its burst raw (as well as big JPEGs and TIFF) shooting buffer capacity. (Check if this applies to the Nikon service center in your country.) A handy-dandy chart in the notice indicates, for example, that the buffer for 14-bit uncompressed full-resolution raw files will jump from 16 to 36 frames.

Cynics might claim that Nikon's doing this to leapfrog the Canon EOS-1D's 20-frame buffer, but I don't think sports, catwalk or wildlife shooters are going to care about the why. And as far as we know, this is the first time a manufacturer has offered a physical upgrade for a camera that wasn't a fix.

Via CNET Crave

Update: Nikon Singapore has told us it is offering the upgrade at a cost of S$780 before tax. You have to leave your D3 with the service center for 7 to 10 days while the technicians increase the memory for the buffer circuit board. As for other parts of Asia, check with your local Nikon office to see if it is offering the same service. Click here to find out more.

Sanyo's flashy Xacti HD700 follow-up adds a megapixel

And the mini-camcorder cavalcade keeps rolling on. Well, in Japan at least. Sanyo premiered its latest HD pocket-corder, Xacti, Wednesday in Japan. The DMX-HD800 records at up to 720p at 30fps in MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, and does so with an improved 8MP CMOS sensor.

There are some other tweaks to the specs that you can view on Sanyo's Japanese Web site (Google translated for your pleasure), but all-in-all it looks like another decent offering. (Though, personally, I find the gold and pink colors a bit too "look at me, I've got a camcorder".) The DMX-HD800 will be available August 22 in Japan for approximately US$460.

Don't feel like waiting for this to make it stateside? Check out our review of the Kodak Zi6 that has solid 720p video performance in a compact package.

Via CNET Crave

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