'Manual' is the mantra for new cameras at PhotokinaWhile this year's Photokina promises to be the most well-attended ever, the products introduced so far this week at the biennial imaging trade show in Germany aren't exactly groundbreaking.
Kodak cameras include some bells-and-whistles designed to help newcomers used to pointing and shooting learn about manual controls. But the overall design seems to acknowledge that long-term consumer loyalty may come down to the quality of a photo the camera can produce in automatic mode, and how easy it is to do stuff with the photo--whether emailing it, uploading it to the Web or printing it and sending it to the grandparents. At Photokina, Kodak announced the Z710, a 7.1-megapixel camera with a 10x optical zoom lens and a 2-inch LCD available in October for US$300. Shooting at the highest resolution, photos are sharp enough to be blown up to 30-by-40-inch prints. There is also an expansion slot for SD/MMC memory cards to augment the camera's 32MB of storage, according to Kodak. In addition to the automatic features that give users a choice of 18 scene modes and three color modes, the Kodak Z710 has burst modes for action or sports photography, aperture and shutter priority modes for guided manual control, and a full manual mode.
Kodak also announced new rechargeable batteries that it says will allow cameras to take more pictures between charges. Fujifilm, along with its announcement of an official brand name change for Fuji Photo Film affiliates, unveiled plans for two new digital cameras. The FinePix F31fd, a 6.3-megapixel camera has 26MB of internal memory and takes xD-Picture Cards. It is the only Fujifilm camera that's not a digital SLR to offer face detection, which can identify and focus on up to 10 faces in one shot. Once captured, the photography can zoom in on those faces to check details like red-eye or unwanted smirks.
In addition to the cameras released this week, Olympus will unveil a concept model of its successor to the E-1 during Photokina, the company said. But while consumers convince themselves that they will use the aperture priority setting and want full manual control over everything from shutter speed to color saturation, they will probably not use them, analysts said. "Automatic was the most popular scene mode, and 76 percent of those using it were using it either all the time or often," said Morris in an email. The trade show in Cologne, Germany, ends Sunday.
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