The world's first four-million pixel digital SLR
JAKARTA (JP): Dozens of digital cameras have been flooding the markets in the past few years.
The players are not only veterans of the camera industry like Nikon, Canon, Olympus and Kodak.
Newcomers, especially in the electronic-imaging industry, have also entered the camera business. The new cameras are digital, which is something new to their senior rivals.
The "new kids on the block" include Epson, Intel, Umax, Casio and Hewlett Packard.
Like the fast evolving PCs, digital cameras are also rapidly advancing, leaving consumers, including those in Indonesia, confused as there are myriad different types to choose from.
Some digital cameras are simply a "point-and-shoot" gadget, but many others attempt to grab the attention of the professionals.
Early last year, for example, cameras with two megapixels, were the rage. If that means nothing to you, simply consider that its maximum print quality is equivalent to a postcard print(4 inches by 6 inches) taken with a "traditional" SLR camera.
Nowadays, there are those with 3.3 megapixels, meaning the prints of size 10R (8 inches by 10 inches) is amazingly clear.
Olympus Optical Co. Ltd. recently stunned the markets with its latest digital eyepopper, the Camedia E-10, dubbed the world's first four-megapixel camera.
As any new product, the E-10 is not cheap as it comes with a US$1,999 price tag. As a comparison, the 3.3 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 990 costs only $999.
With a capacity of four million pixels, images captured by this equipment will look crystal clear on computer monitors with a 2240-pixel by 1680-pixel resolution.
But keep in mind that only two shots can be taken at the highest quality setting with the 32MB SmartMedia card which is included in this camera.
This means that most of the time you will be using lower resolutions, which you can get from other digital cameras at less than half the price.
The other attractive feature of E-10 is its large aperture of F2-F2.4 with a 4X zoom lens and a 2/3-inch primary color CCD. (bsr)