This week, I'll be doing some armchair reporting on digital camera announcements at CES 2008 (it would be cruel and unusual to make me fly out to Vegas twice in one month, so I'm saving it up for PMA 2008 in late January). Though most camera vendors save their big product announcements for PMA, a few interesting digicams are already hitting the show floor at the REALLY BIG SHOW in Las Vegas.
This week, I'll be doing some armchair reporting on digital camera announcements at CES 2008 (it would be cruel and unusual to make me fly out to Vegas twice in one month, so I'm saving it up for PMA 2008 in late January). Though most camera vendors save their big product announcements for PMA, a few interesting digicams are already hitting the show floor at the REALLY BIG SHOW in Las Vegas.
Sony Alpha DSLR-A200
The most interesting so far is the Sony Alpha DSLR-A200. Its predecessor, the Alpha DSLR-A100, was introduced at $1,000 (with kit lens) and only dropped to truly entry-level pricing as it got a bit long in the tooth. The A200, on the other hand, is priced out of the gate at $700 with a DT 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 3.9x zoom lens, placing it in direct competition with the well-loved Canon EOS Rebel XTi and the Nikon D40x. With Canon and Nikon likely to announce updates at PMA, Sony's CES unveiling keeps them from stealing its thunder.
The A200 sports a 10.2-megapixel, APS-size CCD, a 2.7-inch LCD, Super SteadyShot in-body image stabilization, and shoots up to three continuous frames per second at 10.2-megapixels and the finest JPEG compression level. The product will ship in February, but you can pre-order it today at www.sonystyle.com/dslr.
Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1
Another standout at the show is the Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1, a pricey 6-megapixel megazoom camera. It will set you back a whopping $1,000 (yep,
more than Sony's DSLR!), but the EX-F1's unique hook is its ultra-high-speed burst shooting capabilities rated at (an also whopping) 60 frames per second at full resolution. Taking a page from the cool Past Movie mode introduced in a number of Casio models a few years ago, the camera also pre-records still images into a continuously recording buffer. You not only capture images when you press the shutter button, but you even have a chance to capture images from before you press the button. Using the super-fast burst function to pre-record still images, you can save a maximum of 60 images into the buffer memory. A Slow Motion view function then lets you play back the saved images in--you guessed it--slow motion, so you can select the exact moment you want to grab your photo. Sounds like just the ticket for folks who often shoot sporting events. Other great features include high-speed movie recording at an unheard of 1,200 frames per second, and full HD movie recording at 1920x1080 pixels.
