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The introduction of one more "next and greatest" digital photo camera can too easily be dismissed in mid1998, amidst what can seem an inundation of hard-to-distinguish digital photo camera announcements. In truth, many of these entries are now for a consumer level defined as okay for low performance in order to drop the price; "good enough" cameras for now. (Until the capability is there to offer better results less expensively!)
While such models may be of business interest to Advanced Imaging readers, for the more demanding digital imaging work you do yourselves, whether that be for photo documentation in scientific or industrial apps, or commercial business apps like real-estate or insurance, or for outright pro studio photo use, information can be more difficult to come by-even if there are enough of these out there that it calls for a round-up of new offerings like this one.
And for discriminating Advanced Imaging readers, we also know, the capabilities of these models are often "personal musts" for your own consumer use anyway. Pros don't mess around! So here are some key new offerings we've encountered that will be of interest.
But first: Hi-res consumer models
Make no mistake: the continuing upgrades in consumer-oriented models brings some of them into the "advanced" domain. In the world of high-resolution digital photo cameras, many of the latest features would have seemed futuristic way back last year!
Consider the new level of hi-res cameras that are not just "portable," but do a quality job and actually fit in your pocket. Small monitors allow you to view the shots as you take them, so adjustments can be made. The ability to capture images "on-the-scene" is beneficial not only to our professional photographer readers, but to those in businesses such as real-estate, insurance, contracting and, of course, law enforcement. Other interesting features include the ability to "play back," images directly to PCs by increasingly fast (and less battery hungry) means, and the capability to record sound with the image.
If you're looking for a small, lightweight digital camera, you would want to look at the MX-700 from Fujifilm. This camera measures 3.15" x 4.0" and weighs less than 10 ounces. It features a 1/2" CCD with 1.5 million square pixels and reproduces...